Competition In and From the Harmonization of Private International Law

Abstract:     
Law not only regulates competition, it is both the result of competition and creates opportunities for competition. States compete to have their legal system models become the norm on a regional and global basis. Thus there is value in considering the manner in which this competition is carried out. This has occurred both within the European Union, where member states also competed with Community institutions for competence over the area of private international law. The EU and the United States are now major competitors on the global front in the process of multilateralization of rules of private international law. This was evident in the negotiation of the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. Such multilateralization of rules also creates new opportunities for competition of courts in becoming magnets for commercial dispute resolution. This chapter in the book edited by Karl M. Meessen, Economic Law as an Economic Good: Its Rule Function and its Tool Function in the Competition of Systems (Sellier European Law Publishers 2009), discusses all of these levels of competition.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 17

Keywords: competition, law and economics, private international law, European Union, European Community, Hague Conference on Private International Law, harmonization, unification, external competence, recognition of judgments

Accepted Paper Series