Traveling Judges

Abstract

Around the world, domestic courts focused on commercial disputes hire foreign judges. The practice seems to resemble arbitration, but is also rooted in colonialism. These traveling judges are predominantly retired English judges hired by small, market-dominant jurisdictions, like Hong Kong or Dubai. The judges' identities reveal efforts to harness business preferences for English common law into domestic court systems. While judges aspire to spread the rule of law, local politics may dictate these courts' futures. This Article maps the practice of traveling judges and explores its implications.

Keywords: judges, courts, international commercial courts, private international law, conflict of laws, international commercial arbitration, transnational litigation, post-colonialism

JEL Classification: K10, K12, K33, K41