The past forty years have seen a wide proliferation of disputes under international law concerning cultural heritage. These have included the restitution of stolen art objects or the protection of monuments. Unlike other fields of international law, international cultural heritage law does not have an ad hoc mechanism of dispute settlement. As a result, controversies are to be settled through negotiation or, if it fails, through existing dispute resolution means. This can result in similar cases being settled in different ways, thereby bringing about an incoherent and fragmentary enforcement of the law. This book offers a comprehensive and innovative analysis of the settlement of cultural heritage disputes. This examination is two-fold. First, it assesses the existing legal framework and the available dispute settlement means. Second, it explores the feasibility of two solutions for overcoming the lack of a specialized forum. The first is the establishment of a new international court. The second concerns existing judicial and extra-judicial fora and their interaction through the practice of 'cross-fertilization'. The book focuses on the substance of such interaction, and identifies a number of culturally-sensitive parameters (the 'common rules of adjudication'). It argues that existing judicial and non-judicial fora should adopt a cross-fertilizing perspective to use and disseminate jurisprudence containing these common rules of adjudication. It sets out how such an approach would enhance the effectiveness and coherence of decision-making processes and would be conducive to the development of a lex culturalis. This can be defined as a composite body of rules designed to protect cultural heritage by excluding the mechanical application of the norms established for standard business transactions of ordinary goods.

Negotiation -- Mediation -- Arbitration -- Dispute resolution public policy.

Dispute System Design walks readers through the art of successfully designing a system for preventing, managing, and resolving conflicts and legally-framed disputes. Drawing on decades of expertise as instructors and consultants, the authors show how dispute systems design can be used within all types of organizations, including business firms, nonprofit organizations, and international and transnational bodies. This book has two parts: the first teaches readers the foundations of Dispute System Design (DSD), describing bedrock concepts, and case chapters exploring DSD across a range of experiences, including public and community justice, conflict within and beyond organizations, international and comparative systems, and multi-jurisdictional and complex systems. This book is intended for anyone who is interested in the theory or practice of DSD, who uses or wants to understand mediation, arbitration, court trial, or other dispute resolution processes, or who designs or improves existing processes and systems.

Private Law in the International Arena analyzes a wide variety of effects that cross-border activities have on the operation of private law, ranging from corporate and insolvency law to labor law, property law, the law of obligations, family law, European law and lex mercatoria. Civil procedure aspects, in national courts and arbitration proceedings, are also explored. This book provides a unique source of insights into the problems encountered and their possible solutions. All contributions have been written in honor of an eminent Private International Law scholar, Prof. Dr Kurt Siehr.

Dedicated to Tibor Vrady. Focuses on international private law and international arbitration.