Conflict of Laws in a Globalized World

Cambridge University Press have published a new book on Conflict of Laws in a Globalized World, edited by Eckart Gottschalk (Harvard), Ralf Michaels (Duke), Giesela Ruhl (Max Planck, Hamburg) and Jan von Hein (Max Planck, Hamburg). The book is a tribute to the late Arthur von Mehren; the contributors (see below for a full list) are all former Joseph Story Fellows, who worked with von Mehren during their year at Harvard. Here is the publisher’s blurb:

This book contains ten contributions that examine current topics in the evolving transatlantic dialogue on the conflict of laws. The first five contributions deal with the design of judgments conventions in general, the recently adopted Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, problems involving negative declaratory actions in international disputes, and recent transatlantic developments relating to service of process and collective proceedings. The remaining five contributions focus on comparative and economic dimensions of party autonomy, choice of law relating to intellectual property rights, the applicable law in antitrust law litigation, international arbitration, and actions for punitive damages.

The contents:

Editor’s preface; Bibliographical note; Part I. Remembering Arthur T. von Mehren: 1. The last Euro-American legal scholar? Arthur Taylor von Mehren (1922 – 2006) Jürgen Basedow; 2. Arthur Taylor von Mehren and the Joseph Story Research Fellowship Peter L. Murray; 3. Building bridges between legal systems – the life and work of Arthur T. von Mehren Michael von Hinden; Part II. Transatlantic Litigation and Judicial Cooperation in Civil and Commercial Matters: 4. Some fundamental jurisdictional conceptions as applied in judgement conventions Ralf Michaels; 5. The Hague Convention on Choice-of-Court Agreements – was it worth the effort? Christian Thiele; 6. Lis Pendens, negative declaratory-judgement actions and the first-in-time principle Martin Gebauer; 7. Recent German jurisprudence on cooperation with the US in civil and commercial matters: a defense of sovereignty or judicial protectionism? Jan von Hein; 8. Collective litigation German style – the act on model proceedings in capital market disputes Moritz Balz and Feliz Blobel; Part III. Choice of Law in Transatlantic Relationships: 9. Party autonomy in the private international law of contracts: transatlantic convergence and economic efficiency Gisela Ruhl; 10. The law applicable to intellectual property rights: is the Lex Loci Protectionis a pertinent choice of law approach? Eckart Gottschalk; 11. The extraterritorial reach of antitrust law between legal imperialism and harmonious co-existence: the empagram judgement of the US Supreme Court from a European perpective Dietmar Baetge; 12. Mandatory elements of the Choice-of-Law Process in international arbitration – some reflections on Teubnerian and Kelsenian legal theory Matthias Weller; 13. Application of foreign law to determine punitive damages- a recent US Court contribution to Choice-of-Law evolution Oliver Furtak.

The contributors:

• Jürgen Basedow
• Peter L. Murray
• Micahel von Hinden
• Ralf Michaels
• Christian Thiele
• Martin Gebauer
• Jan von Hein
• Moritz Bälz
• Feliz Blobel
• Gisela Rühl
• Eckart Gottschalk
• Dietmar Baetge
• Matthias Weller
• Oliver Furtak

The book can be purchased from CUP (on either their main site, or the US variant.) It is priced at £45.00 (or $85.00) and will be available from October 2007. ISBN: 9780521871303.

Many thanks to Ralf Michaels for the tip-off.