Negoziare la convivenza. Note di diritto comparato ed europeo

This essay questions the provisions on cohabitation agreements, as provided for by the so-called “Cirinnà law”, in the light of the principles of private autonomy and vulnerability; as well as their relationship with the general Italian contract law provisions. These two principles serve also as a sort of tertium comparationis for the analysis of the French and the English and Welsh legal systems, with specific reference to the pactes civiles de solidarité and the English law regime on cohabitation contracts. The final aim of this article is to evaluate the answers of the above-mentioned legal systems to the economic and non-economic needs and interests of unmarried couples; and to evaluate whether it might be possible to draw a common European model of cohabitation contracts.