Christian Schulze, ‘The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements’, (2007) 19 SA Merc LJ 140-150

The article discusses the 2005 Hague Convention’s rules on jurisdiction (of the chosen and not-chosen courts) and the recognition and enforcement of resulting judgments. It then goes on to examine the role of the new convention in comparison to other conventions and to the Brussels I Regulation. Reference is made to the different objectives of these international instruments and to the more limited scope of the Hague Convention. The article also discusses jurisdiction agreements in general, pointing out that they are common in international commercial contracts and may be regarded as a prudent step for parties to take. The author describes the distinction between exclusive and non-exclusive choice of court agreements. He concludes by stating that this convention makes litigation a more viable alternative to arbitration since it ensures the enforcement of choice of court agreements in the same fashion as the New York Convention (1958) does for arbitration agreements. He then expresses the hope that the new convention would draw as much interest as the New York Convention.