Market regulation and contractual autonomy

Abstract

The essay addresses the issue of the relationship between contractual autonomy and regulation in regulated credit and savings markets.

Starting from the adoption of a historical perspective in the analysis of the content and limits of contractual autonomy, the author argues that the intervention of the supervisory authorities on the dynamics of the contract is not only aimed at guaranteeing the full and correct exercise of private autonomy, but also at conforming the contract in function of the regulation of the market and, therefore, the pursuit of the purposes of supervision.

On the basis of these theoretical premises, the essay examines some significant examples of the impact of market regulation on the exercise of contractual autonomy. In particular: shareholders' agreements in listed companies, ius poenitendi in the off-premises offer of financial instruments, the assessment of credit worthiness in consumer credit.