The trust in Spanish and Italian private international law Part II

This is the concluding part of the Article of which the firstpart appeared in the (September QUERY FOR OXFORD) issue of Trusts& Trustees and which dealt with the position of trusts underItalian conflict of law. This second part examines the positionunder Spanish conflict of law rules and the impact that theHague Convention might have on it.     

Trusts in American law and some of their substitutes in Spanish law: Introduction and Part I

This article describes how trusts are used in American law andhow Spanish law provides similar facilities for investors. Thearticle is in two parts. The first part examines, from a USpoint of view, the principal uses of trusts and the second partwill describe aspects of Spanish law that provide similar facilitiesfor investors before concluding that none of the tools availablein Spanish law fulfil all the functions of trusts and that theintroduction of a trust law into Spanish law would not be simple.     

Trusts in American law and some of their substitutes in Spanish law: Part II

The first part of this article examined, from a US point ofview, the principal uses of trusts and now this second partdescribes aspects of Spanish law which provide similar facilitiesfor investors, before concluding that none of the tools availablein Spanish law fulfil all the functions of trusts and that theintroduction of a trust law into Spanish law would not be simple.     

WTO与中国国际私法司法解释

法律全球化的趋势及我国入世时的承诺要求我国国内的法律制度必须与WTO规则相衔接。由于我国国际私法的立法是计划经济体制的产物,严重滞后于国际民商事法律关系的需要和时代的发展,再加上目前还不能从根本上解决国际私法的立法问题,因此在涉外民商事审判实践中,有关司法解释处于独特的地位。本文在对我国国际私法司法解释的价值及其存在的问题进行分析的基础上,提出了完善我国国际私法司法解释体制的建议。     

Party autonomy in the choice of law under Indian and Australian private international law: some reciprocal lessons

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the performance of several contracts and is likely to increase the number of disputes before the courts. In agreements with a foreign element, the adjudication of the rights and liabilities will depend on the applicable law. Most legal systems have embraced the doctrine of party autonomy and, accordingly, permit the parties to expressly select the law to govern the disputes that arise from international contracts. India and Australia are no exception to this trend. In general, the courts in both the commonwealth countries have reported having been influenced by judicial practices of one another to develop their own law. Despite their common law roots, the interpretations attached to the doctrine of party autonomy in the choice of law have varied in some respects in these countries. The paper analyses the judicial trends on the subject and demonstrates the role that party autonomy will play in resolving international disputes where the performance has been affected by the eventualities such as the COVID-19 pandemic in India and Australia. The paper delves into the manner in which the courts in India and Australia may offer reciprocal lessons to each another to revolutionise to interpret the doctrine of party autonomy in the choice of law.     

Application of private international law conventions in hong kong of china

The conflict of laws of Hong Kong has predominately preserved traditional common law rules of pre-England conflict of laws. It is considered as the legal basis of the harmonization of law conflicts between different legal units, which mainly include three parts: jurisdiction, choice of law, judicial assistance in civil and commercial matters. As far as the legal source of the conflict of laws of Hong Kong is concerned, convention is an important part of international law sources. Currently, there are ten special conventions related to private international law, one of which is the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, and the other nine are the conventions consulted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (“HCCH”), including the Statute of the Hague Conference. Also, there exist non-special conventions relating to private international law, which play an important role in Hong Kong. These conventions have brought tremendous benefits to Hong Kong. More attention needs to be paid to the conventions of private international law to assist Hong Kong in cooperation with other more jurisdictions.     

Thoughts on the theories and practice of chinese private international law

“The parties can only choose facultative legal norms,” “the parties of all foreign-related civil and commercial cases may agree to choose Chinese law as the applicable law governing their legal relationship,” and “the applicable law to the contract chosen by the parties shall not avoid the mandatory provisions of Chinese law” —such viewpoints that have substantial influence among the theorists and in the judicial practices of Chinese private international law are actually based on misunderstandings of Chinese private international law. It is a task of the private international law community of China to eliminate such misunderstandings, hence facilitating the healthy development of Chinese private international law.     

The Hague judgments project: assessing its plausible benefits for the development of the Indian private international law

At present, India is not a signatory to any international treaty or Convention that regulates the disputes arising from the international jurisdiction of courts or the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in transnational civil or commercial matters. These aspects are, consequently, regulated by the country’s private international law as espoused via case-law, in the absence of any codification of the rules on the subject. This has, therefore, exposed the Indian legal system to the threat of being unpredictable, inconsistent or even obsolete in some respects as far as the governance of international civil and commercial disputes are concerned. The paper, accordingly, investigates the plausible role that the two instruments presently under the scope of the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s Judgment Project, namely, the Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements [the HCCA] and the recent Proposed Draft Text on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments [the Draft Convention], may have on the development of the Indian legal system. While the HCCA is already in force with three ratifications till date, the Draft Convention is merely in the form of a draft text that would hopefully see the light of the day, depending upon the consensus between the Members of the Hague Conference. Apropos, this paper identifies the loopholes in the relevant rules of the Indian private international law on the international jurisdiction of courts and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and demonstrates the manner in which, these aspects may be addressed if the country endorses the two instruments under the Judgments Project.     

The idea of a trust in Zoroastrian law

There is hardly any legal institution which better characterizes the thinking and everyday practice of the common law family than the legal institution of the trust. The English common law developed it during the Middle Ages, and it remains popular to this day. The institution of the trust is a unique phenomenon of the common law. Surprisingly, the Zoroastrian community of the Sassanian period in Persia developed some legal techniques which are very close to the common law trust. In this paper I will show the peculiarities and history of what I call the Zoroastrian trust, and hope to establish the basic similarity between the two. What makes this comparison easier is the fact that the two legal institutions developed independently from each other, since there is no possibility of historical interactions between Sassanian Persia (third–seventh centuries AD) and England during the Middle Ages. It is also impossible to speak about common or similar religious, cultural and legal backgrounds.     

The status of the extracorporeal embryo in German law (Part I).

The legislator, in the German Federal Republic, has opted for a specific legal solution in relation to the protection of the embryo. Carola Müller, in this article, describes this regulation as well as the reasons that have led to its adoption. The article finishes with an exposition of the existing social discussion in German society and the effect that the law has had.     

How to build European private law: an economic analysis of the lawmaking and harmonization dimensions in European private law

In the process of building a European Private Law, the lawmaking and harmonization dimensions??the modes of harmonization and even more, the scope and reach of the harmonizing effect of the European rules- appear as crucial issues. We show how the harmonization strategy is as important a question as whether we should have European Private Law at all. We present an economic discussion of the different modes of harmonizing Private Law in the abstract, and how they are likely to differently affect outcomes. We also present in informal terms a simple economic model of how to build optimal harmonized rules and standards in a setting of pre-existing separate and diverse national ones, and we systematically explore how the different harmonization regimes (maximum harmonization, minimum harmonization, and pure co-existence of harmonized and national standards) affect the outcomes of the harmonization process.     

Autonomy and private ordering in contract law

This essay reviews Michael J. Trebilcock's book,The Limits of Freedom of Contract (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), examining crucial and controversial social issues within the rigorous framework of the law and economics of contract. The idea that private markets are the primary institutions for the allocation of limited resources is central to any private ordering model of contract law. Yet such a premise leaves a number of fundamental questions unanswered. Trebilcock is critical of the insufficiency and ambiguity of current contract theory in addressing fundamental legal issues relating to the limits of freedom of contract. Pushing the frontiers of current legal theory, Trebilcock revisits the slippery notion of freedom of contract and tests the actual reach of economic analysis in providing a coherent answer to compelling social questions. The author pursues his ambitious task by examining the conclusions reached by competing paradigms of analysis. In spite of his declared trust in the economic approach to law, Trebilcock pays close attention to alternative analytical traditions, comparing the conclusions of various intellectual perspectives with those suggested by an economic framework of private ordering. The book objectively examines strengths and weaknesses of competing views, affording the reader a balanced position from which to conclude for herself, by illustrating the practical implications of the various approaches. In a number of instances, Trebilcock shows how different theoretical premises may indeed be conducive to similar institutional outcomes.Associate Professor of Law, George Mason University. The support of the Sarah Scaife Foundation and of the John M. Olin Foundation is gratefully acknowledged, as are the helpful comments of Jonathan C. Harris and Charles K. Rowley. Extensive remarks received from Michael J. Trebilcock prior to publication allowed me to remedy earlier omissions.