Part III International Arbitration Agreements: Issues and Perspectives, 8 The Dangers of Neglect: Governing Law of Arbitration Agreements

Author(s):  
Kaplan Neil ◽  
Boltenko Olga

This chapter argues that the issue of the law applicable to arbitration agreements has been neglected to such a tremendous extent that even the major arbitral institutions fail to include the choice of law provisions in their model arbitration clauses. As a result of that oversight, very rarely do the parties include the choice of law provision in their arbitration agreements, and many arbitrations degenerate into unnecessary debates as to which law applies. The time has come for parties to select explicitly the law that will govern their arbitration agreement, and perhaps more importantly, for the institutions to recommend that the parties select the law to govern their arbitration agreements. The various approaches offered by arbitration practitioners on the subject are discussed.

Author(s):  
Kupelyants Hayk

Chapter 4 examines the law applicable to sovereign domestic bonds in the absence of a choice of law provision. It is commonly believed that the domestic debt is necessarily governed by the law of the sovereign. The chapter challenges that premise by arguing that the law of the creditor should apply instead on the ground that the creditor is the party providing the characteristic performance. The chapter examines the possibility of escaping the governing law in favour of, among others, the law of the sovereign debtor. Lastly, the chapter examines the applicability of mandatory provisions in sovereign debt litigation.


Author(s):  
Hayk Kupelyants

Chapter 4 examines the law applicable to sovereign domestic bonds in the absence of a choice of law provision. It is commonly believed that the domestic debt is necessarily governed by the law of the sovereign. The chapter challenges that premise by arguing that the law of the creditor should apply instead on the ground that the creditor is the party providing the characteristic performance. The chapter examines the possibility of escaping the governing law in favour of, among others, the law of the sovereign debtor. Lastly, the chapter examines the applicability of mandatory provisions in sovereign debt litigation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-59
Author(s):  
Prince Obiri-Korang

Generally, under choice of law, the issue of uncertainty associated with the determination of the governing law of international contracts is quite clear. The level of this uncertainty, however, increases when dealing with questions about which law governs the validity of such contracts. Like other areas of private international law, matters concerning validity present several unique challenges both in theory and in practice, making it the most complicated topic in private international law literature. In fact, the uncertainty in this area has led to a situation where different rules are applied by different states, without taking into consideration the link that should exist between the state whose law becomes applicable and the function that the law is expected to serve – determining the validity of a contract. This article attempts to contribute to existing literature on choice of law questions regarding the validity of international contracts and also provides solutions, based on the underlying principles of private international law of contract that effectively address the uncertainty in this area of law. The article submits that the law that governs the validity of an international contract must, at all times, be one that has a legitimate interest in matters concerning the legality or otherwise of such contracts. In this regard, the article strongly opposes the theory that the parties’ intention determines the law that governs the validity of their contract. After a careful examination of literature and landmark judicial decisions in both civil law and common law jurisdictions, the article concludes that the lex loci solutionis is the appropriate law to determine matters relating to the validity of international contracts.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-177
Author(s):  
Joshua Karton

Abstract This article explores the sources, nature, and implications of an arbitrator’s duty to decide according to the governing law in investor-state arbitrations. It advances a contractarian conception of arbitral authority in investor-state arbitration, whereby the agreement of the states parties to the investment treaty is the source of both the arbitrator’s power to make decisions and the primary constraint on that power: the duty to apply the law. It argues that the choice of law provisions in investment treaties have a constitutional character for arbitral tribunals, such that a failure to apply the chosen law constitutes an excess of the tribunal’s powers which, if manifest, justifies annulment or non-enforcement of the award. The article concludes by considering the implications of this contractarian theory of arbitral powers and duties for arbitrators, disputing parties, and states seeking to reassert control over the investor-state dispute settlement system.


Author(s):  
Blackaby Nigel ◽  
Partasides Constantine ◽  
Redfern Alan ◽  
Hunter Martin

This chapter analyses the different applicable laws that govern international arbitration. International arbitration, unlike its domestic counterpart, usually involves more than one system of law or of legal rules. It identifies five different systems of law that may have a bearing on an international arbitration in practice: the law governing the arbitration agreement and the performance of that agreement; the law governing the existence and proceedings of the arbitral tribunal (the lex arbitri); the law, or the relevant legal rules, governing the substantive issues in dispute (generally described as the ‘applicable law’, the ‘governing law’, ‘the proper law of the contract’, or ‘the substantive law’); other applicable rules and non-binding guidelines and recommendations; and the law governing recognition and enforcement of the award.


Author(s):  
Ю. М. Оборотов

В современной методологии юриспруденции происходит переход от изучения состо­яний ее объекта, которыми выступают право и государство, к постижению этого объек­та в его изменениях и превращениях. Две подсистемы методологии юриспруденции, подсистема обращенная к состоянию права и государства; и подсистема обращенная к изменениям права и государства, — получают свое отображение в концептуальной форме, методологических подходах, методах, специфических понятиях. Показательны перемены в содержании методологии юриспруденции, где определяю­щее значение имеют методологические подходы, определяющие стратегию исследова­тельских поисков во взаимосвязи юриспруденции с правом и государством. Среди наи­более характерных подходов антропологический, аксиологический, цивилизационный, синергетический и герменевтический — определяют плюралистичность современной методологии и свидетельствуют о становлении новой парадигмы методологии юриспру­денции.   In modern methodology of jurisprudence there is a transition from the study the states of its object to its comprehension in changes and transformations. Hence the two subsystems of methodology of jurisprudence: subsystem facing the states of the law and the state as well as their components and aspects; and subsystem facing the changes of the law and the state in general and their constituents. These subsystems of methodology of jurisprudence receive its reflection in conceptual form, methodological approaches, methods, specific concepts. Methodology of jurisprudence should not be restricted to the methodology of legal theory. In this regard, it is an important methodological question about subject of jurisprudence. It is proposed to consider the subject of jurisprudence as complex, covering both the law and the state in their specificity, interaction and integrity. Indicative changes in the content methodology of jurisprudence are the usage of decisive importance methodological approaches that govern research strategy searches in conjunction with the law and the state. Among the most characteristic of modern development approaches: anthropological, axiological, civilization, synergistic and hermeneutic. Modern methodology of jurisprudence is pluralistic in nature alleging various approaches to the law and the state. Marked approaches allow the formation of a new paradigm methodology of jurisprudence.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-48
Author(s):  
Warren Swain

Intoxication as a ground to set aside a contract is not something that has proved to be easy for the law to regulate. This is perhaps not very surprising. Intoxication is a temporary condition of varying degrees of magnitude. Its presence does however raise questions of contractual autonomy and individual responsibility. Alcohol consumption is a common social activity and perceptions of intoxication and especially alcoholism have changed over time. Roman law is surprisingly quiet on the subject. In modern times the rules about intoxicated contracting in Scottish and English law is very similar. Rather more interestingly the law in these two jurisdictions has reached the current position in slightly different ways. This history can be traced through English Equity, the works of the Scottish Institutional writers, the rise of the Will Theory, and all leavened with a dose of judicial pragmatism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 88-93
Author(s):  
K.N. Golikov ◽  

The subject of this article is the problems of the nature, essence and purpose of prosecutorial activity. The purpose of the article is to study and justify the role of the human rights function in prosecutorial activities in the concept of a modern legal state. At the heart of prosecutorial activity is the implementation of the main function of the Prosecutor’s office – its rights and freedoms, their protection. This means that any type (branch) of Prosecutor's supervision is permeated with human rights content in relation to a citizen, society, or the state. This is confirmed by the fact that the Federal law “On the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation” establishes an independent type of Prosecutor's supervision-supervision over the observance of human and civil rights and freedoms. It is argued that the legislation enshrines the human rights activities of the Prosecutor's office as its most important function. It is proposed to add this to the Law “On the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation”.


Author(s):  
Pamela Barmash

The Laws of Hammurabi is one of the earliest law codes, dating from the eighteenth century BCE Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq). It is the culmination of a tradition in which scribes would demonstrate their legal flair by composing statutes on a repertoire of traditional cases, articulating what they deemed just and fair. The book describes how the scribe of the Laws of Hammurabi advanced beyond earlier scribes in composing statutes that manifest systematization and implicit legal principles. The scribe inserted the statutes into the structure of a royal inscription, skillfully reshaping the genre. This approach allowed the king to use the law code to demonstrate that Hammurabi had fulfilled the mandate to guarantee justice enjoined upon him by the gods, affirming his authority as king. This tradition of scribal improvisation on a set of traditional cases continued outside of Mesopotamia, influencing biblical law and the law of the Hittite Empire and perhaps shaping Greek and Roman law. The Laws of Hammurabi is also a witness to the start of another stream of intellectual tradition. It became a classic text and the subject of formal commentaries, marking a Copernican revolution in intellectual culture.


Author(s):  
Alexander Brown

Section I identifies the weaknesses in existing accounts which locate the legitimacy of expectations in underpinning laws and legal entitlements (the Law-Based Account), in the substantive justice of expectations and/or the justice of the basic structure which forms the background to expectations (the Justice-Based Account), or in the legitimacy of the governing agencies and political authorities whose acts and omissions are both the cause and the subject of expectations (the Legitimate Authority-Based Account). Section II introduces a rival account, the Responsibility-Based Account, according to which the legitimacy of expectations depends on the responsibility of governmental administrative agencies for bringing about agent’s expectations, allied to those agencies already having been given or having assumed a role responsibility for making binding decisions affecting the important interests of agents. Finally, Section III expounds in more detail the complex theory of responsibility that undergirds the Responsibility-Based Account.


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