Essay On Private International Law

III. Sovereignty and Private International Law

A. The general context Private international law, by its very nature, requires a framework for understanding relationships among states in the regulation of private party conduct. This is demonstrated by the interchangeable use of the terms “conflict of laws” and “private international law.” Whether it is jurisdiction, applicable law, or recognition of judgments, we are dealing with the way in which different sets of internal legal rules, developed by different sovereign entities, should be applied to private party relationships in a judicial context. A simple approach to such matters is to elevate the local sovereign and its laws over the foreign sovereign and its laws. Concern for the equality

Sales Convention. While it is possible that in some cases the existence of the Sales Convention may require that a court determine whether the law of the seller’s state, the buyer’s state, or the Sales Convention is the applicable law, that determination itself will most often be a matter of the substantive law of the Sales Convention, and not something for which local rules of private international law will govern. Thus, even in such cases, the existence of a treaty normally will prevent the application of local rules of private international law. The more such treaties we have, the less the role for national rules of private international law. This is also true of treaties that create new jurisdictional rules. The most significant example in this regard has been the New York Arbitration

This is demonstrated in judicial decisions, state and national legislation, treaties, and internal European Community legislation. In the United States, uniform state law provides respect for private party selection of governing law. For example, the Uniform Commercial Code rule in effect in most states allows parties to choose the law applicable to their relationship whenever their “transaction bears a reasonable relation to” the state or nation whose law is chosen. Similar respect for party autonomy in the choice of applicable law is found in Europe in the Rome Convention, Article 3 of which provides respect for the law chosen by the parties to a contract, subject only to certain mandatory rules of national law. On choice of forum issues, the United States has moved forward through judicial decisions, while Europe has done so through conventions and Community