Party Autonomy In Private International Law

Provides an unprecedented historical, theoretical and comparative analysis and appraisal of party autonomy in private international law. These issues are of great practical importance to any lawyer dealing with cross-border legal relationships, and great theoretical importance to a wide range of scholars interested in law and globalisation.

This book provides an unprecedented analysis and appraisal of party autonomy in private international law - the power of private parties to enter into agreements as to the forum in which their disputes will be resolved or the law which governs their legal relationships. It includes a detailed exploration of the historical origins of party autonomy as well as its various theoretical justifications, and an in-depth comparative study of the rules governing party autonomy in the European Union, the United States, common law systems, and in international codifications. It examines both choice of forum and choice of law, including arbitration agreements and choice of non-state law, and both contractual and non-contractual legal relations. This analysis demonstrates that while an apparent consensus around the core principle of party autonomy has emerged, its coherence as a doctrine is open to question as there remains significant variation in practice across its various facets and between legal systems.

This book explores the theory and practice of judicial jurisdiction within the field of private international law. It offers a revised look at values justifying the power of courts to hear and decide cross-border disputes, and demonstrates that a re-conceptualisation of jurisdiction is needed. Rather than deriving from territorial power of states, jurisdiction in civil and commercial cross-border matters ought to be driven by party autonomy. This autonomy can be limited by certain considerations of equality and critical state sovereign interests. The book applies this normative view to the existing rules of jurisdiction in the European Union and the Russian Federation. These regimes are chosen due to their unique positions towards values in private international law and contrasting societal norms that generate and accommodate these values. Notwithstanding disparate cultural and political ideas, these regimes reveal a surprising level of consistency when it comes to enforcement of party autonomy. There is, nevertheless, room for improvement. The book demonstrates to scholars, policy makers and lawmakers that jurisdiction should be re-centred around the interests of private actors, and proposes ways to improve the current rules.

Is Private International Law (PIL) still fit to serve its function in today’s global environment? In light of some calls for radical changes to its very foundations, this timely book investigates the ability of PIL to handle contemporary and international problems, and inspires genuine debate on the future of the field.

This is a carefully structured, practice-orientated textbook. The strong comparative component provides a thought-provoking international perspective, while at the same time allowing readers to gain unique insights into international commercial litigation in English courts.

This book highlights the importance of optional choice of court agreements, and the need for future research and legal development in this area. The law relating to choice of court agreements has developed significantly in recent years, reflecting their increased use in practice. However, most recent legal developments concern exclusive choice of court agreements. In comparison, optional choice of court agreements, also called permissive forum selection clauses and non-exclusive jurisdiction clauses, have attracted little attention from lawmakers or commentators. This collection is comprised of 19 National Reports, providing a critical analysis of the legal treatment of optional choice of court agreements, including asymmetric choice of court agreements, under national laws as well as under multilateral instruments. It also includes a General Report offering an overview of this area of the law and a synthesis of the findings of the national reporters. The contributions to this collection show that the legal treatment of optional choice of courts differs between legal systems. In some countries, the law on the effect of optional choice of court agreements is at an early stage in its development, whereas in others the law is relatively advanced. Irrespective of this, the national reporters identify unresolved issues with the effect of optional choice of court agreements, where the law is unclear or the cases are conflicting, demonstrating that this topic warrants greater attention. This book is of interest to judges, legislators, lawyers, academics and students who are concerned with private international law and international civil procedure.

Examination of Party Autonomy and its limits has always raised fundamental questions in national contract and private law. The concentration on information solutions which enhance and leave more space to party autonomy is a fundamentally new approach to this core issue and is typical of Community legislation. The complexity of the question made it advisable to have the different aspects treated and discussed by specialists in different areas: by legal scholars and economists, by EC law and by contract law specialists, by scholars from different jurisdictions with different regulatory approaches and backgrounds. The four parts deal with (1) the economic and constitutionell foundations of the question, with (2) the framework to be found in EC treaty law, with (3) the fundamental and more general aspects relating to substantive EC contract law legislation, and with (4) the most important individual legal measures. The book covers both general contract law (with consumer contracts) and labour contract law.

A comprehensive and in-depth analysis of how courts in the countries of Commonwealth Africa decide claims under private international law.