Asymmetric cross-citations in private law: An empirical study of 28 supreme courts in the EU

Recent years have seen a growing volume of research on citations between courts from different countries. This article fills gap in the current literature by presenting and analysing cross-citations highest domestic responsible for matters private law EU 2000 to 2018. It addresses two main questions: first, what extent do judges cite foreign case their decisions? Second, may explain varying levels engagement supreme with law? Our findings offer mixed result as nature frequency such cross-citations. Overall, we identify 2984 cross-citations; yet, only few instances find reciprocal relationship countries, while more generally an asymmetric picture emerges. The also discusses whether problems ease access court decisions partly be limitations use