Comparative legal studies performed by a large network of academics from many different countries usually require many years of work and indeed a great deal of patience from all persons involved. This book, like most volumes of the Common Core series, is no exception to this rule. A first draft questionnaire on civil liability for the violation of personality rights was presented by Gert Brüggemeier and Aurelia Colombi Ciacchi and discussed in Trento in 2001. After settling on the final version of the questionnaire, first draft country reports were completed between 2002 and 2004. In August 2004, Patrick O'Callaghan joined the editors' team. Draft comparative remarks and an introductory chapter were written in 2005–06. Then the last missing country reports were drafted and the review of the other reports and the drawing of our conclusions for this project continued until early 2007, followed by final editing and proofreading until 2008.

We would like to express our deepest thanks to all national reporters and contributors for their enthusiasm and long-term commitment to this project, which did not provide any other remuneration but for the publication itself and the enjoyment of wonderful meetings in both Trento and Turin.

We are grateful to the general editors of the Common Core project, Mauro Bussani and Ugo Mattei, for their constant support. An enormous thank you to the chairs of the Tort session of the Common Core project, Mathias Reimann (until 2002) and Franz Werro (since 2003), and all participants to the annual meetings of the Tort sessions for their valuable comments and suggestions.