This course follows the development of the so-called "soft law" from its origins in public international law to commercial arbitration, where it is used today as a label for various instruments and phenomena, covering both procedural aspects and the applicable substantive law: model laws, arbitration rules, guidelines, the UNIDROIT Principles, the lex mercatoria, and others. It presents three particularly well-known sets of guidelines by the International Bar Association and discusses the pros and cons of "soft law" instruments and their potential normativity. The analysis suggests that "soft law" instruments are typically less well recognised in practice than is generally assumed. The author explains what such instruments can achieve and what minimum requirements they have to fulfil to at least aspire to some legitimacy. He argues ultimately that "soft law" instruments can be very useful tools, but they do not carry any normativity.
Présentation de l'éditeur : "In recent years, a growing body of provisions called "protocols," "guidelines," "checklists" or even "rules" has emerged in international arbitration. Unlike national or international law, or institutional arbitral rules, these provisions are not "mandatory" for arbitration participants. They range from provisions that can be incorporated into the parties' agreement to arbitrate to suggestions as to the best practices that arbitrators and other arbitration participants may choose to follow. These materials are often collectively referred to as "soft law." Soft Law in International Arbitration provides a guide to what the editors consider to be the most useful of such materials. The book organizes these materials into five categories, each introduced with commentary by a prominent member of the international arbitration community. Thus, the eighteen documents contained in this book can be regarded as helping to fill in the spaces that substantive law and arbitration rules have intentionally left blank. Soft Law in International Arbitration is an indispensable commentary for practitioners and academics alike."
No field of legal scholarship or practice operates in the world of private international law as continuously and pervasively as does international arbitration, commercial and investment alike. Arbitration's dependence on private international law manifests itself throughout the life-cycle of arbitration, from the crafting of an enforceable arbitration agreement, through the entire arbitral process, to the time an award comes before a national court for annulment or for recognition and enforcement. Thus international arbitration provides both arbitral tribunals and courts with constant challenges. Courts may come to the task already equipped with longstanding private international law assumptions, but international arbitrators must largely find their own way through the private international law thicket. Arbitrators and courts take guidance in their private international law inquiries from multiple sources: party agreement, institutional rules, treaties, the national law of competing jurisdictions and an abundance of "soft law," some of which may even be regarded as expressing an international standard. In a world of this sort, private international law resourcefulness is fundamental.
Ex Aequo et Bono as a Response to the 'Over-Judicialisation' of International Commercial Arbitration' investigates significant divergence in the understanding of ex aequo et bono across state jurisdictions and international arbitration institutions and analyses the core trends in actual legal practice and in thinking about the principle. Despite its many distinguished proponents over time, ex aequo et bono - the idea of deciding disputes on the basis of what an adjudicator regards as fair and equitable - has failed to take hold in international commercial arbitration (ICA). Formalisation and fossilisation of arbitral procedure, as manifested in the increasing use of litigation-style practice, unfortunately reign instead. This bold and challenging book argues that parties to an arbitration should be more willing for their cross-border disputes to be decided (and arbitrators should be more prepared to decide those disputes) in accordance with broad principles of equity and fairness, rather than by strict adherence to technical rules of law.
This important book examines the development of soft law instruments in international investment law and the feasibility of a 'codification' of the present state of this field of international economic law. It draws together the views of international experts on the use of soft law in international law generally and in discrete fields such as WTO, commercial, and environmental law. The book assesses whether investment law has sufficiently coalesced over the last 50 years to be 'codified' and focuses particularly on topical issues such as most-favoured-nation treatment and expropriation. This timely book will appeal to academics interested in the development of international law and legal theory, to those working in investment law, Government investment treaty negotiators and arbitration practitioners.
This thought-provoking book examines whether regional centres associated with global legal institutions facilitate expanded citizen engagement in global soft law making. Through an analysis of empirical research into the role of decentralized soft law making in the East Asian region, it investigates the influence of such regional centres in overcoming representational deficits in the design of cross-border dispute settlement norms.
This concise yet comprehensive textbook introduces the reader to the law and practice of international arbitration. Arbitration is a complex field due to the variety of disciplines involved and necessitates an approach that takes nothing for granted. Written by a renowned scholar and practitioner, this book explains the divergent issues of civil procedure, contracts, conflict of laws, international law amongst others in an accessible manner. Focusing mainly on international commercial arbitration, the book also features a distinct chapter on consumer and online arbitration and an equally comprehensive chapter on international investment arbitration.
This book expounds the theory of international arbitration law. It explains in easily accessible terms all the fundamentals of arbitration, from separability of the arbitration agreement to competence-competence over procedural autonomy, finality of the award, and many other concepts. It does so with a focus on international arbitration law and jurisprudence in Switzerland, a global leader in the field. With a broader reach than a commentary of Chapter 12 of the Swiss Private International Law Act, the discussion contains numerous references to comparative law and its developments in addition to an extensive review of the practice of international tribunals. Written by two well-known specialists - Professor Kaufmann-Kohler being one of the leading arbitrators worldwide and Professor Rigozzi one of the foremost experts in sports arbitration - the work reflects many years of experience in managing arbitral proceedings involving commercial, investment, and sports disputes. This expertise is the basis for the solutions proposed to resolve the many practical issues that may arise in the course of an arbitration. It also informs the discussion of the arbitration rules addressed in the book, from the ICC Arbitration Rules to the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration, the CAS Code, and the UNCITRAL Rules. While the book covers commercial and sports arbitrations primarily, it also applies to investment arbitrations conducted under rules other than the ICSID framework.
The Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts provide an excellent and practice proven tool for cross-border contracts: They constitute a neutral and pragmatic business oriented contractual regime for cross-border contracts They contain multiple solutions to typical contractual questions regarding the life of a contract, often by way of a compromise between civil and common law They have been referenced in hundreds of decisions of arbitral tribunals or national state courts They have been endorsed inter alia by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (last in 2021) and the Union Internationale des Avocats (2020) bringing together through its bar association and individual members approximately two million lawyers in more than 110 countries. Thirty years after their first publication, it is arguably malpractice to ignore them. In this fully revised and enlarged 2nd edition, the commentary continues to analyse the Unidroit Principles article by article from a practical perspective, while always discussing alternative courses of action, where they apply. The commentary includes proposals for choice of the Unidroit Principles’ clauses and practical guidance for their use as template, or to supplement the CISG or national law. In addition to arbitral and state court decisions and recent literature, the 2nd edition includes an in-depth analysis of extensive legislative material. The author is a German practitioner with international training and familiarity with both common and civil law. He has been admitted to the New York Bar and also teaches at the University of Hamburg as a Professor of Law. The author is using the Unidroit Principles for more than 20 years in his commercial and arbitration practice, in recent years on a daily basis in multiple industries. As he shares his experience under the Unidroit Principles, the commentary can also be used as a practical guide and checklist of issues to consider in international contracting. Die Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts sind das ideale Instrument für grenzüberschreitende Verträge: sie bilden ein neutrales, pragmatisches und wirtschaftsorientiertes Regime für grenzüberschreitende Verträge sie enthalten zahlreiche praxisnahe Lösungen für übliche Vertragsfragen und versöhnen dabei Civil Law und Common Law Unidroit Principles werden in zahlreichen Entscheidungen von Schiedsgerichten oder nationalen Gerichten zitiert u.a. befürwortet von der Kommission der Vereinten Nationen für internationales Handelsrecht (zuletzt 2021) und der Union Internationale des Avocats (2020), die über ihre Anwaltskammern und Einzelmitglieder rund zwei Millionen Anwälte in mehr als 110 Ländern vereinen. Nach dreißig Jahren Anwendung in der Praxis kann es sich rächen, die Unidroit Principles zu ignorieren! Die vollständig überarbeiteten und erweiterte 2. Auflage des Kommentars analysiert weiterhin die Unidroit Principles, Artikel für Artikel, aus Sicht des Praktikers. Alternative Handlungsmöglichkeiten werden dort erörtert, wo sie sinnvoll und anwendbar sind. Der Kommentar enthält Vorschläge für die Wahl der Klauseln der Unidroit Principles und praktische Anleitungen für deren Verwendung, auch als Vorlage oder zur Ergänzung des CISG oder des nationalen Rechts. Neben Schiedsgerichts- und staatlichen Gerichtsentscheidungen sowie aktueller Literatur enthält die 2. Auflage eine eingehende Analyse des umfangreichen Gesetzesmaterials. Als deutscher Praktiker mit internationaler Ausbildung ist der Autor mit dem Common Law und dem Civil Law bestens vertraut. Er ist als Rechtsanwalt in New York zugelassen und lehrt als Professor für Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität Hamburg. Der Autor wendet die Unidroit Principles seit 20 Jahren in seiner täglichen Handels- und Schiedsgerichtspraxis an. Aufgrund zahlreicher Berichterstattung aus der Praxis bietet der Kommentar zugleich ein Handbuch und Checklisten zum allgemeinen Schuldrecht in grenzübergreifenden Fällen.
