Private international law (PIL) problems have existed for centuries when people from various territories and religious and social groups engaged in mutual contacts. Some of the core issues of this discipline have been critically reviewed during the so-called conflicts revolution which took place during the twentieth century in the American academic literature and court practice. However it seems that not much discussion on methodologies of PIL has developed since then. This book, inspired by the Law and Economics approach, introduces the concept of efficiency into PIL, aiming to show new dimensions of traditionally important issues. First, this author challenges the traditional understanding that uniform law is always more desirable than PIL, and raises questions on the rationale and possibility of the unification of PIL. Second, territoriality has been understood to exclude PIL. This book clarifies why such understanding does not hold in the twenty-first century especially in the field of intellectual property, and argues that a one-sizefits-all model would not be appropriate in the context of cross-border insolvency.

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.

Filling a conspicuous gap in the legal literature, Andrew T. Guzman's How International Law Works develops a coherent theory of international law and applies that theory to the primary sources of law, treaties, customary international law, and soft law. Starting where most non-specialists start, Guzman looks at how a legal system without enforcement tools can succeed. If international law is not enforced through coercive tools, how is it enforced at all? And why would states comply with it?--Publisher.

European private international law, as it stands in the Rome I, II, and III Regulations and the recent Succession Regulation, presents manifold risks of diverging judgments despite seemingly harmonised conflict of law rules. There is now a real danger, in light of the rapid increase in the number of legal instruments of the European Union on conflict of laws, that European private international law will become incoherent. This collection of essays by twenty noted scholars in the field sheds clear light on the pivotal issues of whether a set of overarching rules (a 'general part') is required, whether an EU regulation is the adequate legal instrument for such a purpose, which general questions such an instrument should address, and what solutions such an instrument should provide. In analysing the possible emergence of general principles in European private international law over the past years, the contributors discuss such issues and factors as the following: – the relationship between conflict of laws and recognition; - the room for party autonomy; - the concept of habitual residence; - adaptation when interplay between different laws leads to deadlock; - public policy exceptions; - the desirability of a general escape clause; - the classic topics of characterisation, incidental question, and renvoi; and - right to appeal in case of errors in the application of foreign law. Practitioners dealing with these notoriously difficult cases will welcome this in-depth treatment of the issues, as will interested policymakers throughout the EU Member States and at the EU level itself. Scholars will discover an incomparable comparative analysis leading to expert recommendations in European private international law, opening the way to an effective European framework in this area.

This global study provides a definitive reference guide to the key choice of law principles on international contracts, including 60 national and regional reports written by experts from all parts of the world, and a dedicated commentary on the Hague Principles as applied to international commercial arbitration.

This incisive Research Handbook provides valuable insights into the various methodological approaches to Private International Law from regulatory and educational perspectives. It comprehensively unpacks central themes in the field including international jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement, and scrupulously analyses core debates whilst addressing legislative and policy issues.