« Love all, serve all » (coactivement) : le problème de l’obligation pour les entreprises de contracter contre leur volonté

The chapter considers the topic of “forced” consent in certain contractual relationships. In particular, it focuses on several recent cases where business managers or employers were unwilling to offer their services to some potential customers, or to hire some workers, or anyway accommodate certain requests of theirs. Such refusals typically conflict with existing anti-discrimination laws, and in several instances courts have ruled that such laws required businesses to agree to a contractual arrangement they did not want; however, on some notable occasions, courts have deemed the refusals justified. Against the background of the horizontal application of fundamental rights, and relying on some considerations from the law and economics scholarship, the chapter reflects on whether and how a balancing could be struck between the willingness to protect members of underprivileged groups, and the need to safeguard at least the minimum content of the principle of contractual autonomy.