published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Construction Project Management

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (LL.M.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1981. / Cover title.

In Europe of the Middle Ages, there existed an autonomous regime of truly private international business law based upon the customs and usages of merchants, the Law Merchant, administered in lay tribunals. The courts and legislators usurped the jurisdiction of the lay tribunals, and subverted the Law Merchant to municipal law. Arbitration was similarly subverted to municipal courts and strict legal controls. The courts continued to guard their jurisdiction jealously into the 20th century, when nations came to realize the inadequacy of national legal systems for international business problems, and the desire of business to escape parochial legal concerns and municipal courts. Canada adopted the New York Convention and UNCITRAL Model Law in 1986, which maximize party and arbitral autonomy and restrict court interference with arbitration. These new laws would permit the resurrection of an autonomous regime of international commercial dispute settlement largely divorced from national law and court controls, if the courts cooperate. This thesis is the first comprehensive, up-to-date study (of which I am aware) of Canadian case law on arbitration in the context of the history of autonomous commercial dispute resolution from the its zenith in the Middle Ages through its nadir, to its present attempted resurrection. This thesis shows that the courts of Canada continue to guard their jurisdiction jealously, finding the means in old notions and precedents to justify their refusal to cede jurisdiction to arbitrators. The courts have ignored the policies underlying the new laws, have failed to apply international precedents and standards, and have continued to apply notions and precedents from an era hostile to arbitration.

This thesis analyses three issues raised by the application of the general principles of law to commercial arbitration. First, it is essential to assess the core and the substance of the general principles of law. Our first hypothesis purports that the UPICC reduces considerably the uncertainty of the general principles of law in international trade. Secondly, an analysis of the nature of the UPICC is needed, in order to determine whether they have the essential features of a transnational norm and can thus escape the application of national legal norms. We will thus analyse the existing mechanisms to assure the autonomy, of PUCCI, from national law. Thirdly, we will analyse the legitimacy of the UPICC. In doing so, we shall refer to the concept of reflexive legimitacy, a legitimacy obtained through the consensus of the merchant community. This reflexive legitimacy over the UPICC is generally admitted. Two rules within the UPICC, however, raise doubts and concerns over their acceptability in the merchants' community: the hardship and the gross disparity provisions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The letter of credit continues to play an indispensable role in the financing and securing of international commercial transactions. Its usefulness and efficacy derives primarily from the fact that it is independent from the underlying relationship between buyer and seller. In a considerable number of cases, however, the independence of the letter of credit has been challenged as a result of fraud in the underlying transaction. After analyzing recent reforms of the regulatory framework governing letters of credit, this fraud exception to the independence principle will be reappraised in the light of current developments in Canada and the United States. Finally, the author argues that arbitration can and indeed should play an increasingly important role in the resolution of international letter of credit disputes involving fraud in the transaction.

The notion of foreseeability is at the heart of contracts and is based on the notion of corrective justice with a normative content. The quantum of damages should represent the obligational content of the contract. The analysis of foreseeability shows the importance of reasonable expectations and implied obligations. The notion brings to light criteria which are congruent with the criteria of certainty and predictability underlying the rule of law.