Dear all -

With the two mobilizing events in Washington and Cologne the PLT network has become a reality. As the meetings were fueled by rich and intensive discussion the dialogue on PLT should continue. The platform for doing so already exists and can be accessed at: www.privatelawtheory.net. Now it is the moment to populate the site with your presence and your thoughts:

- Most importantly, the site contains a blog function. For instance, entries can consist of reflections on PLT topics, or you might want to point to (and upload) new working papers written by yourself or by a colleague, or you would like to draw the community’s attention to an upcoming event. To use this function you will receive another email within the next hours that provides you with a personal password. We are aware of the fact that there are a lot of chances to discuss about the law on the Web but so far no platform is focusing especially on the theory of private law.

- In the course of time the blog entries will be moved to the section "PLT memory". Due to this archive function no contribution will be lost. PLT memory documents the evolution of PLT reasoning and the development of the given scientific network.

- The section "PLT network" lists all the participants of this scholarly network. As a starter we have already put in the names and academic affiliations of those of you who have participated in one of the meetings or who have otherwise indicated their interest in the network; the name is hyper-linked to your personal website. Everybody who is not listed yet but wishes to be included is welcome to write an email to mail@privatelawtheory.net, and we will change this immediately. Of course, the same applies if somebody on the list wants her or his name to be removed.

- "PLT links" already contains some useful links to institutions that seem relevant for transnational lawmaking in the private sector.

- Finally, the tag "What is PLT?" displays a short program on the agenda of PLT drafted by Bertram Keller and me. Taking into account the feedback we have received at the Cologne meeting it is written in an inclusive but at the same (hopefully) substantially outlined style. It is written in the spirit of a dialogue among the different theories: it does not aim at some kind of super-theory of private law but acknowledges the differences between the existing theories. They should be cultivated for the sake of rich evolution of thought in the field.

If you have any administrative questions please feel free to contact us at: mail@privatelawtheory.net. All questions about PLT should find their way to the new forum!

Kindest regards,

Dan Wielsch and Bertram Keller