Implied Choice of Law in International Contracts

Manuel Penadés Fons has just published a new book on the implied choice of law in international contracts, entitled Elección tácita de ley en los contratos internacionales (Thomson Reuters Aranzadi).

Abstract provided by the author:

The autonomy of the parties to choose the law applicable to their international commercial contracts does not always manifest through an express clause in the agreement. This silence leads occasionally to litigation over the possibility that the parties exercised such freedom, even though it was not explicitly reflected in the contract. Despite the harmonised solution provided to this issue by the European legislation, practice shows that the answer given by the courts of different Member States is substantially divergent. This reality makes the question highly controversial and unpredictable in the context of international commercial litigation. The book at hand studies the theoretical underpinnings of the institution and explores the criteria used by European caselaw under the Rome Convention and the Rome I Regulation, offering valuable professional guidance to deal with the question of implied choice of law before national and arbitral tribunals.

Summary (click here for whole table of contents)

I.- Introduction: Party autonomy under the Rome I Regulation

II.- Conceptual delimitation: Implied choice of law

III.- Practical delimitation: Implications of the study

IV.- The History and Status Quo of Implied Choice of Law in the European Union

V.- The Search for the Real Intention of the Parties

VI.- Conclusions

Manuel Penadés Fons, LLM London School of Economics, teaches Private International Law at the University of Valencia.