The Choice-Based Perspective of Choice-of-Law

Abstract

This Article offers an innovative basis for the choice-of-law question: the Choice-Based Perspective (CBP). The main argument is that there exists n alternative rights-based understanding of choice-of-law to that which is presently known as the “vested rights” theory. This understanding is based on the legal philosophy of perhaps the greatest expositor of the rights-based concept, Immanuel Kant. In contrast to alternative approaches, CPB insists on a purely private conception of the subject, grounded on an organizing principle of unity of persons’ choices. Furthermore, the proposed approach holds much sway in practice, for the normative underpinnings of CBP are already embedded in many traditional and contemporary choice-of-law rules, doctrines, and concepts.

Keywords: choice-of-law; Kant; party autonomy; most significant relationship