Sandra Wandt on Party Autonomy in European Private International Law

Sandra Wandt has published an interesting doctoral thesis (in German) on „Party Autonomy in European Private International Law – A Study on the Main Codifications regarding Coherence, Completeness and Regulatory Efficiency“ (Rechtswahlregelungen im europäischen Kollisionsrecht – Eine Untersuchung der Hauptkodifikationen auf Kohärenz, Vollständigkeit und rechtstechnische Effizienz; PL Academic Research, Frankfurt/Main 2014). The thesis was accepted summa cum laude by the law faculty of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich under the supervision of Professor Dr. Abbo Junker. In her thesis, Wandt provides for an exhaustive analysis of the various rules on party autonomy found in the current EU Regulations on PIL, i.e Rome I, II, III and the Succession Regulation as well as in the Hague Maintenance Protocol and the proposal on marital property. She deals in particular with inconsistencies concerning the admissibility of a free choice of law, the requirements for a valid agreement on the chosen law and the limits imposed on the parties‘ choice. The book is a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate about achieving a more coherent codification of pervasive issues in European private international law. For those who are interested in further details, the introductory chapter is available here.