Univ., Diss.--Frankfurt am Main, 2003. / Literaturverz. S. 19 - 35.

LL.M. (International Commercial Law) / Legal judgements against unsuccessful defendants are handed down around the world on a daily basis, but their enforcement can become a complicated matter when the enforcement of the judgement must occur outside the territorial boundaries of the state from which it emanates. The purpose of this paper is to determine the enforceability of judgements of the European courts whereby the jurisdiction of the court was determined in terms of Brussels I. This paper begins with an in-depth discussion of the principles of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements and the purpose it serves within the context of private international law. The second chapter discusses recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements in South Africa. The requirements and the criteria necessary to fulfil such requirements will be discussed under this heading. The third chapter considers the various grounds of jurisdiction available to the plaintiff in approaching a court of a European Union State. Each ground will be followed by a discussion on the enforceability of a judgement, founded on such a ground of jurisdiction, in terms of the South African principles of recognition and enforcements of foreign judgements and whether the requirements discussed in the preceding chapter have been met. Chapter 4 provides concluding remarks relating to the matters discussed in the body of this paper.

Thesis (LLM)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: International trade has increased tremendously in the last few decades. When parties to a contract find themselves in different countries and each has its own legal background, specific problems originate in connection with formation of the contract, its execution, the breach thereof and so forth. The predominant theme of this work is the question of how a diversity of legal rules should be approached in an international context. The focus is on contract formation, and the rules of offer and acceptance are therefore examined. As a result of diverse legal cultures, different legal systems often have contradicting rules pertaining to contract formation, which can lead to a variety of problems if the contracting parties are not aware of the inconsistencies. According to international private law's choice of law-rules, such a contract should be governed by the rules of the legal system with which it has the closest connection. Connecting factors can be for instance the domicile of particular persons at various times, the situs of property, or the place where a juristic act was performed. One specific legal system will therefore rule the contract. There is however another possibility: that of a uniform substantive law. This involves the unification of different legal rules into one set of rules to be applied to contracts which are concluded in an international context. Taking into account that many of the rules and doctrines applicable to contract law have a common philosophical origin, the necessity of a convergence of these rules may be questioned. However, most of the rules ended up being different in different legal systems, and parties to an international transaction will probably not have the same idea about questions such as the possibility to revoke an offer before acceptance, or the precise moment of formation of the contract. A comparative study of the rules of offer and acceptance illustrates this point. International efforts to unify the law in this regard are explored, in order to assess the possibility of a uniform substantive law of contracts. Some of the international instruments seem to be able to find a middle way between conflicting rules, although it may not always be the best way to solve the problem. It is argued that harmony is not necessarily advanced by a codification of existing rules, and that a common legal culture which can lead to the incremental development of harmonious legal principles may be an alternative solution for the problem of incompatible national legal systems in an international context. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Internasionale handel het die afgelope paar dekades geweldig toegeneem. Wanneer kontraktante hulle in verskillende lande bevind, elke party met sy eie regsagtergrond, ontstaan eiesoortige probleme in verband met kontraksluiting, die uitvoering daarvan, kontrakbreuk, en dies meer. Die oorheersende tema van hierdie werk is die vraag na die hantering van 'n verskeidenheid regsreëls betrokke in 'n internasionale konteks. Die fokus is op kontraksluiting, en die reëls aangaande aanbod en aanname word derhalwe ondersoek. As gevolg van die bestaan van uiteenlopende regskulture het verskillende regstelsels dikwels teenstrydige reëls met betrekking tot kontraksluiting. Dit kan natuurlik problematies wees, veral indien die partye tot die kontrak nie bewus is van die teenstrydighede nie. Ooreenkomstig die choice of law-reëls van internasionale privaatreg, word so 'n kontrak beheers deur die regstelsel waarmee dit die nouste verbintenis het. Faktore wat dui op so 'n band kan byvoorbeeld die domisilie van bepaalde persone op verskillende tye, die situs van eiendom, of die plek waar 'n regshandeling verrig is wees. Een spesifieke regstelsel sal dus van toepassing wees op die kontrak. Daar is egter ook 'n ander moontlikheid: dié van 'n eenvormige substantiewe reg. Dit behels die vereniging van verskillende regsreëls ten einde een stel reëls daar te stel wat toegepas word op internasionale kontrakte. lndien in ag geneem word dat heelparty reëls en leerstukke in die kontraktereg 'n gemeenskaplike filosofiese oorsprong het, is die noodsaaklikheid van 'n vereniging van die reëls nie 'n gegewe nie. Die meeste van dié reëls het egter verskillend uitgekristalliseer in verskillende regstelsels, en partye tot 'n internasionale transaksie sal heel waarskynlik nie dieselfde opinie hê oor kwessies soos die moontlikheid om 'n aanbod voor aanname daarvan te herroep, of die presiese oomblik van totstandkoming van 'n kontrak nie. 'n Vergelykende studie van die reëls van aanbod en aanname illustreer die punt. Internasionale pogings om die reg in die verband te verenig word ondersoek, ten einde die moontlikheid van 'n eenvormige substantiewe reg van toepassing op kontrakte te beoordeel. Sekere van die internasionale instrumente blyk 'n middeweg tussen uiteenlopende reëls te vind, alhoewel dit nie noodwendig die beste manier is om die probleem voorhande op te los nie. Daar word geargumenteer dat harmonie nie noodwendig bevorder word deur 'n kodifikasie van bestaande reëls nie, en dat 'n gemeenskaplike regskultuur wat tot die geleidelike ontwikkeling van eenvormige regsbeginsels kan lei, 'n alternatiewe oplossing vir die probleem van onversoenbare nasionale regstelsels in 'n internasionale konteks kan wees.

Arbitration is the preferred method of dispute resolution in international trade. Naturally, a set of rules is necessary to govern the conflict&rsquo / s resolution. For cultural, political, economical or other reasons the parties&rsquo / national laws may not serve the individual interests and needs of that particular contract well. If one wants to avoid the application of both parties&rsquo / national laws, one can choose that the contract be governed by an a-national legal standard, e.g. general principles of International Trade Law or the general usages of a particular trade. These internationally accepted principles of law governing contractual relations are called lex mercatoria (law merchant).<br /> <br /> Lex mercatoria already existed in the Middle Ages and can even be dated back to antiquity. Later it disappeared through the nationalization of International Trade Law and was rediscovered in the 1950s, when international traders were again creating their own law and disputes were increasingly resolved outside of the national jurisdictions and applying a-national law. Lex mercatoria is being applied more and more by arbitrators and is therefore becoming increasingly important for dispute resolution in International Trade. Numerous different concepts and theories of lex mercatoria have been developed. Its being an autonomous legal system is questioned by some authors and the doctrine in favour of it called unfounded. The critics also argue that the authority to apply lex mercatoria may be a recipe for amateurism and the substitution of the arbitrator&rsquo / s private preferences for the parties&rsquo / intentions, for itis easy to proclaim common principles on the basis of limited knowledge. The lex mercatoria is said only to exist because scholars talk about it. However, these and other allegations can be refuted by critically analyzing the arguments that are supposed to underline those assumptions. Applying lex mercatoria to solve international trade disputes has many advantages. By choosing lex mercatoria the parties avoid rules which are unfit for international contracts, e.g. peculiar formalities, brief cut-off periods and special difficulties created by domestic laws. In addition to that, neither of the parties has the advantage of having the dispute governed by his own law. Since one of the central rules is the principle of good faith and fair dealing, lex mercatoria neither leads to arbitrary results nor does it favour the rich. Is it possible for the arbitrators to apply lex mercatoria if no law has been chosen by the parties? The failure of the parties to indicate a choice could well mean that they did not wish to have their contract governed by any of their national laws. In some awards arbitrators applied lex mercatoria as they considered the community of international merchants to be autonomous and to exist beyond national legislation. However, it cannot be deduced from the absence of such a choice that the parties have impliedly chosen lex mercatoria to be the law governing the conflict. Lex mercatoria is applicable only as a subsidiary law in cases where no national law has been chosen and seems apt.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Private international law from a comparative perspective (comparison of a particular segment in Czech law and the law of a selected country) The aim of this thesis is to compare the provisions of the Czech and Italian private international law respective to the issue of applicable law and recognition of trusts. The thesis is composed of six main chapters, introduction and conclusion. Second chapter refers to the historical concept of trusts with particular focus on the historical development in Czech legal system. Third chapter is focused on the notion of trust within the terms of the Act no. 89/2012 Coll., Civil Code and the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition as well as its unique implementation allowing creation of specific Italian trusts, so-called trusts interni. Fourth and fifth chapter are dedicated to the complex analysis of provisions of the Act no. 91/2012 Sb., on Private International Law and the Hague Convention, in particularly extent of the application, the choice of law, applicable law, change of law, depeçage, and recognition of trusts. European legislation overview and possible grounds for further development are described in the sixth chapter. Seventh chapter describes practical aspects of the applicable law and recognition of trusts.

The dissertation, while incorporating and building upon previous work of the author, aims to analyze in greater detail (both from an historic perspective and from a viewpoint of current trends and associated theories) the ever-repeating discrepancy between choice- of-law regulation of contractual relationships in the Czech Republic (or the European Union) on the one hand and the Common Law legal culture (especially the United States) on the other. Recent scholarly articles are also critiqued. The following major Common Law related tenants are extrapolated from a relatively extensive background of materials: (i) Conflict of Laws in the United States constitutes an interstate system as opposed to an international system utilized by European law. Duet he federal structure of the United States and the volume of interstate trade (trade between the various states of the United States) American Conflict of Laws retains a domestic character, (ii) Conflict of Laws is not governed on a federal level and the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly ruled that when a federal Choice of Law clause is warranted the state-level counterpart shall be used instead analogously, (iii) due to the aforementioned domestic characteristics and case law of the Supreme Court of the United States American Conflict of...

Trata-se de estudo sobre desafios existentes para a harmonização do direito do comércio internacional, entendendo-se harmonização de forma ampla, como busca da harmonia dos instrumentos e regras do comércio internacional. Dessa forma, o estudo trata tanto de questões de unificação quanto de harmonização do direito do comércio internacional. A harmonização, em sentido específico, deve ser entendida como a utilização de um instrumento como modelo ou fonte de inspiração para a elaboração ou interpretação de outros instrumentos ou dos direitos nacionais. A unificação, por sua vez, é entendida como o resultado da aplicação de um instrumento único de modo que o aplicador que a realizou seja indiferente. Nesse sentido, os desafios estão nos fatores que impedem o preenchimento dos requisitos que levam à unificação e à harmonização, quais sejam: elaboração dos instrumentos, entrada em vigor dos tratados, incorporação dos modelos aos direitos nacionais, aplicação dos instrumentos pelos aplicadores (árbitros e juízes), o que inclui questões relativas a regras de conflito de leis, normas imperativas e ordem pública, relação entre os instrumentos quando da sua elaboração e quando da sua aplicação. / This essay concerns challenges on the harmonization of international commercial law. Harmonization shall be understood in a wide fashion, as the efforts to reach harmonic solutions on international commercial law. Harmonization, in a strict fashion, occurs when an instrument is used as a model or source of inspiration for the drafting or the application of another instrument or domestic laws. Unification, in turn, concerns the result accruing from the application of a sole instrument in order to reach results similar enough no matter who applied it. In this sense, challenges as considered for the purpose of this study are factors that somehow bar the fulfillment of the requirements leading to unification or harmonization: drafting of instruments, enforcement of treaties, incorporation of models to domestic law, application of instruments by judges or arbitrators, including issues related to conflict of laws, mandatory rules and public policy, the relation among coexisting instruments both on their drafting and on their application.

No description available.

La thèse propose d'abolir, pour les besoins du droit international privé, les différents cloisonnements de la phase précontractuelle en retenant une approche unitaire du processus de formation du contrat. Dans cette perspective, il est proposé de dépasser la distinction entre les relations précontractuelles informelles et celles qui sont formalisées par un contrat préparatoire, de même que la distinction entre la phase précontractuelle et le contrat définitif. L'attraction du contrat projeté conduit à emprunter le rattachement de ce dernier pour désigner la loi applicable aux relations précontractuelles. Cette solution pourrait, dans la mesure du possible, être transposée dans le domaine des conflits de juridictions en retenant la compétence du juge du contrat projeté. / The doctoral dissertation proposes to abolish, for the purpose of private international law, the compartmentalisation of the pre-contractual phase by adopting a unitary approach to the contract formation process. In this perspective, it is proposed to overcome the distinction between unformal pre-contractual relations and pre-contractual relations formalized by a preparatory contract, as well as the distinction between the pre-contractual phase and the final contract. The attraction of the intended contract leads to use its connecting factor in order to determine the law applicable to pre-contractual relations. This option could, whenever possible, be extended to conflicts of jurisdictions by considering that the competent judge is the judge of the intended contract.