Non-Contractual Obligations in Private International Law This thesis deals with non-contractual obligations in private international law. The most important law in this area is the Rome II Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations that applies since 11 January 2009. The Regulation creates a common regime of conflict of law rules for most civil and commercial non-contractual obligations. The general rule is the law of the place of injury (lex loci damni). The rule is subject to two exceptions, the common habitual residence exception and a general escape clause based on the closer connection principle. Special rules are laid down for some non-contractual obligations, such as product liability, unfair competition and acts restricting free competition, environmental damages, infringement of intellectual property rights, unjust enrichment, negotiorum gestio and culpa in contrahendo. However, in most cases, the parties may agree on the law applicable to the non- contractual obligations between them. Post-tort agreements may be made between all parties whereas pre-tort agreements are allowed only where all the parties are pursuing commercial activity. Where the Rome II Regulation does not apply the courts will look to the relevant national legislation, which is the Private...

The topic of this thesis is the law applicable to obligations with an international aspect, which is an area that presents a complex and important part of private international law. Statutes dealing with obligations with an international aspect may be of national, international or EU origin and employ different methods to regulate such obligations. Therefore, in comparison with national legal disciplines, the determination of the appropriate legal statute may prove challenging. One of the questions this thesis deals with is the relationship between these statutes and the basic principles upon which the selection between them should be made. Obligations with an international aspect are at the present time dominated by two EU regulations, namely the Rome I Regulation which deals with contractual obligations and the Rome II Regulation which deals with non-contractual obligations. A large portion of this thesis is devoted to their analysis. Instead of a detailed description of their every provision, which for the purpose of this work is unnecessary, this thesis focuses on the scope of application of these Regulations, the conflict rules and the scope of the applicable law. Chapters two and three are a general outline of the issues that follow in this work. The second chapter explains the basic terms...

Unjust enrichment under business law The aim of this work is to analyze the unjust enrichment with its overlap to commercial law. The introduction of the text summarizes the historical development of unjust enrichment from ancient Roman law provisions, including the Austrian General Civil Code and the Civil Code from 1950 up to the history of the currently effective codex published under no. 40/1964 Coll. This historical analysis points out certain analogies with the current regulation and the development of elements that are the foundation of today's unjust enrichment legislation. The following part of the work contains analysis of the current de lege lata legislation of unjust enrichment in the commercial law, the subsequent part constitutes the crucial part of this work that is concerned directly with unjust enrichment in the commercial law. First, it analyses the term of business contractual obligations, then it analyses the relationship between the Civil Code and the Commercial Code and finally it sums up the expert discussion relating to the unjust enrichment in the commercial law and subsequently the author presents his personal view of the problem and the effects of the unjust enrichment, especially on the question of limitation period, are considered briefly. The final chapter consists...

Auganti draudimo rinka ir draudimo reikšmė visuomenėje verčia valstybę pradėti reguliuoti santykius tarp draudikų ir draudėjų. Valdžios institucijos siekia apriboti draudiko galimybes piktnaudžiauti savo pranašumu sutartiniuose santykiuose. Yra stengiamasi, kad draudimo išmokos būtų išmokamos kaip įmanoma dažniau. Pažymėtina, kad tam tikrais atvejais prioritetinis draudėjo teisių gynimas draudiko ir draudėjo ginčuose pasireiškia nepagrįstu draudimo apsaugos išplėtimu ir draudėjo nebaudžiamumu. Draudikai gali bandyti pasinaudoti draudėjų silpnumu. Draudikai sudarydami draudimo taisykles, dažnai įtraukia neaiškias ir klaidinančias sąlygas. Bando įtvirtinti draudėjo pareigas draudimo sutartyje tokiu būdu, kad jų pažeidimas sudarytų sąlygas taikyti griežčiausias pasekmes. Naudodamiesi draudėjo ribotu teisiniu išsilavinimu, draudikai aiškina teises normas sau naudinga linkme. Tokia draudėjo padėtis kelia susirūpinimą. Darbo objektas – draudėjo pareigų pagal draudimo sutartį pažeidimo teisinės pasekmės. Yra analizuojamos bendrų prievolinių pažeistų teisių gynybos būdų ir specialių draudimo teisėje įtvirtintų gynybos būdų ryšys, jų taikymo galimybės, draudėjui pažeidus sutartį. Nagrinėjamos už draudimo sutarties pažeidimą skiriamų sankcijų taikymo sąlygos ir jų griežtumo nustatymo kriterijai. Draudimo sutarties pažeidimo teisinės pasekmės turi būti subalansuotas. Iš vienos pusės, jis turi sudaryti galimybes draudikui nubausti draudėją už sutartinių santykių nevykdymą ir efektyviai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Legal Consequences of Breach of the Insured’s Obligations under an Insurance Contract Insurers can try to exploit policyholders’ lack of information on insurance. They incorporate ambiguous and misleading clauses in the insurance policy. Insurers try to imbed insured’s contractual obligations in such manner that their breach would evoke the strictest legal consequences. By using limited policyholder’s understanding of insurance contract law, insurers interpret terms of insurance contracts lucratively. Such abuse causes concern. Insurers are private enterprises. Insurers by seeking to increase their profits can attempt to impose stricter sanctions than it would be just on the insured for breach of his contractual obligations. Jeopardy arises that the insurer will impose sanctions on the policyholder in an abusive manner. The subject matter of this writing is legal consequences of the insured’s obligations under an insurance contract. Provisions of the Civil Code on breach of contractual duties and civil liability are being analyzed together with special provisions of insurance contract law. Their comprehensive and systematic study reveals the scope of sanctions available for insurer’s use and the conditions that must be met before applying the sanctions. At the present the number of disputes between insurers and policyholders is increasing. The reason behind the disputes often is lack of clearness in legal regulation. Insurers abuse the lack of clearness by abusively... [to full text]

Non-contractual obligations with cross-border elements Non-contractual obligations form a specific part of the law of obligations. Non- contractual obligations are characterized by the fact that the respective parties enter them involuntarily and without a clear understanding of their legal regulation. In cases where the respective legal relationship contains a cross-border element, this lack of understanding is even deeper. The subject of this thesis are non-contractual obligations with a cross-border element and their regulation in private international law. The three fundamental questions of private international law are addressed: namely the issue of international jurisdiction, applicable law, and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements. The current legal regulation of non-contractual obligations with a cross-border elements is contained in a number of legal resources - from international treaties and EU legislation to autonomous national law. The main objective of this thesis is to analyse these systems of legal regulation in order to determine whether they meet the requirement of legal certainty and foreseeability or whether its unification on international or at least a regional level would be beneficial in that regard. Apart from the introductory and conclusion parts, the thesis...

1 English Summary The aim of this thesis is to compare the determination of law applicable to non- contractual obligations in the Czech Republic and the United States of America. In the beginning I provide a brief overview of the international private law in general and then the substantial law of torts in both Czech Republic and the USA and the prospective changes in the new Civil Code which should be applicapble from 2014. The fifth chapter concerns with the law applicable to non-contractual obligations in the Czech Republic. In the first place there is a statute (Private International Law Act), but the majority of its provisions were overruled by the Rome II regulation, which unifies the privite international law of the EU states. According to the regulation, general rule for the law applicable to non-contractual obligation arising out of torts is lex loci delicti (the law of the country in which the dammage occurs). Rome II then provides special rules for product liability, unfair competition, environmental dammage, etc. In the Czech Republic the regulation does not apply to traffic accidents because the Czech Republic is a contracting state to Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Traffic Accidents. The sixth chapter focuses on the law applicable to torts in the USA. The first subchapter deals with...

Legal aspects of the securing of obligations in international trade The securing of obligations in the international trade is recently, possibly more than ever before, very topical issue, and the reason is quite clear - there is a strong need to secure international contractual obligations by effective and reliable securing instruments because of the economic and debt crises which started in 2008 and has been still a very actual problem. This thesis focuses on legal relations arising from the securing of contractual obligations in the international trade. The goal of the thesis is to describe legal aspects of securing obligations considering the determination of an applicable law, under which the securing is governed. Because of the author's long- term working bank experience, the final part of the text deals with a securing by a bank guarantee. In the first part of the thesis there are described legal relations in which an international element appears, and there are also described a purpose, function, categorization and different types of securing instruments respective of the international trade. The second part of the thesis deals with the problem how to determine which law is the applicable one for securing of obligations in the international trade. There are described legal aspects of...

The times when closing of the contract was as simple as making an offer and receiving its acceptance are long over now. A variuosly long period preceeds an establishment of a contractual relationship. During such period, when a contract is being formed, the parties exchange their requests or essential information and negotiate the content of the contract. The longer this pre-contractual negotiation lasts, the more time, money or other means parties invest in good faith that they shall be compensated once the contract is concluded. In case the closing of the contract is not going to occur, because of a party's unfair dealings, the party in harm shall be entitled to engage liability of the other contractor. In these circumstances, the party in harm shall base its claim on a pre-contractual liability, also referred to as culpa in contrahendo. Apart from determining the pre-contractual obligations and liability for their breach in general fashion, the subject matter of this thesis is mainly an effective comparison of Czech and French relevant legal regulation. Since the legislation does not currently regulate the issue of pre-contractual liability, this thesis is focused primarily on the case law issued by courts from both states. In particular, the thesis analyzes the case law of the Czech Supreme...

The objective of this Master's thesis is to analyze the rules of law governing contractual obligations in private international law. First, the relevant sources of law and their concrete application are examined through descriptive and analytical method. The thesis is then focusing on two specific phenomena that have significantly influenced the development of the field in the last few decades. The first one is a gradual process of unification taking place at the legislation level. The second one is called "new lex mercatoria" and represents a non-sate source of rules governing contractual obligations with a cross-border element. Both of the phenomena are analyzed from both theoretical and practical point of view. The thesis is divided in five chapters and the analysis progresses from a general to a more specific level. The first chapter focuses on the legal definitions indispensable for a more detailed analysis provided in the following chapters. In order to better contextualize the rules governing contractual relationships in the international private law, the second chapter is dedicated to its historical evolution. Moreover, the chapter introduces and compares methods regulating contractual relationships in the international private law, while acknowledging the specific circumstances of their creation....

Pendant longtemps, la qualification lege fori a dominé la scène internationale. D'une conception stricte, témoin d'une analyse particulariste du droit international privé, elle a progressivement évolué vers une conception assouplie. Aujourd'hui, les auteurs s'accordent à voir dans la qualification lege fori, une méthode de qualification appropriée. Confrontée au droit des obligations, la qualification lege fori révèle ses faiblesses. Elle est atteinte d'un vice originel qui implique de s'interroger sur son bien-fondé. Même assouplie, la qualification lege fori est incapable de se détacher des concepts du for. Une situation internationale sera donc résolue selon des concepts dictés pour les besoins du droit interne. Ces insuffisances s'observent à l'étude de cas hybrides. Il s'agit d'hypothèses particulièrement délicates à qualifier car elles se situent à la lisière de la matière contractuelle et de la matière délictuelle. La présente étude se propose de rechercher un modèle de qualification qui puisse répondre à la fonction internationale de la règle à appliquer. À côté de la qualification lege fori, il existe une appréhension européenne de la qualification. Celle-ci s'organise autour de l'élaboration de qualifications autonomes, a priori distinctes de la qualification lege fori. La Cour de justice a ainsi opté pour une qualification autonome des notions de matière contractuelle et de matière délictuelle. Confrontée à la qualification lege fori, la qualification autonome révèle sa véritable nature. Sous certains aspects, elle est une forme de qualification lege fori. Sous un autre angle, elle s'en éloigne et peut être analysée comme une véritable qualification internationale. Contrairement à la qualification lege fori, la qualification autonome répond à la fonction internationale de la règle de droit international privé. Elle est donc adaptée aux besoins de la vie internationale. Une fois le bien-fondé de l'approche autonome posée, il était nécessaire de s'interroger sur sa généralisation. En effet, l'adoption d'un ensemble complet de textes en droit international privé européen des obligations a fait émerger un débat sur l'opportunité d'adopter une qualification unitaire des notions communes aux textes de Bruxelles et de Rome. La présente étude se propose de retenir un modèle autonome et moniste de la qualification borné aux seules relations internationales. / For a long time, the lege fori characterisation has dominated the international scene. It has evolved from a strict conception, witness of a particularistic approach of private international law, towards a more flexible conception. Nowadays, authors accept the lege fori characterisation as an appropriate characterisation method. Faced with the law of obligations, the lege fori characterisation shows its weaknesses. It is suffering from an original defect which prompts interrogations on its merits. Even relaxed, the lege fori characterisation cannot be detached from the concepts of the lex fori. An international situation will therefore be resolved according to concepts dictated based on the needs of the law of the forum. Such inadequacies can be observed when studying hybrid cases. Hybrid cases hypotheses are extremely difficult to classify as they stand on the border between matters relating to tort/delict and matters relating to contracts. The present study will search for a characterisation model able to fulfil the international function of the rule to apply. A European understanding of characterisation exists beside the lege fori characterisation. It revolves around the elaboration of autonomous characterisations, in principle distinct from the lege fori characterisation. The European Court of Justice chose an autonomous characterisation for the notions of matter relating to contract and matter relating to tort/delict. Faced with the lege fori characterisation, the autonomous characterisation reveals its true nature. In some respects, it is a type of lege fori characterisation. From another perspective, it diverges from it and can be interpreted as a true international characterisation. Unlike the lege fori characterisation, the autonomous characterisation fulfils the international function of the private international law rule. Therefore, it is suitable to the needs of international affairs. Once the merits of the autonomous approach have been established, it is necessary to consider whether it can be generalized or not. Indeed, the adoption of a complete set of rules in European private international law relating to contractual and non-contractual obligations highlights a debate on the opportunity to adopt a unitary characterisation for the common notions of the Rome and Brussels Conventions and Regulations. The present study suggests to consider an autonomous and monistic model for characterisation but only to the extent international relations are involved.