Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-rnpqb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T21:13:08.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Judicial Services for Global Commerce – Made in Germany?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Gralf-Peter Calliess  and
Hermann B. Hoffmann

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

International business disputes rarely go to court, but sometimes they do. By virtue of the internationally accepted principle of party autonomy, business partners involved in cross-border transactions are entitled to select their forum of choice for any dispute which may arise from their commercial relationship. Party autonomy entails the right to opt out of the nation state's court systems. In fact, arbitration clauses often refer disputes to a non-state institution for commercial arbitration such as the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC in Paris. In a choice of court agreement, however, parties may also choose between the different forums for dispute resolution provided by the nation states. In the era of economic globalization when the demand for cross-border dispute resolution services is growing, the provision of legal services for international commerce becomes big business. As a result, national business lawyers develop a natural interest in channeling international disputes to their domestic courts. A very effective way to broaden their market share is to submit as many contracts as possible to their own national law. Once a choice of law clause, English law for example, is agreed on, a corresponding choice of court agreement comes quasi naturally, since the courts of other nations have a lack of experience in applying foreign law. Thus, when international business transactions are negotiated, the involved lawyers engage in what is appropriately described as a ‘fight for the applicable law'.

Type
Articles
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , 01 February 2009 , pp. 115 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 See e.g. Baxter, Ian F. G., International Conflict of Laws and International Business, 34 Internat'l & Comp. L. Q., 538 (1985), Klaus Peter Berger, et al., The Central Enquiry on the Use of Transnational Law in International Contract Law and Arbitration, in: The Practice of Transnational Law 91 (Berger, Klaus Peter Ed., 2001), Ursula Stein, Lex mercatoria 13 (1995); Hesse, Hannes, Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit in der Investitutionsgüterindustrie - eine empirische Untersuchung, in: Recht der internationalen Wirtschaft und Streiterledigung im 21. Jahrhundert 277 (BERGER, KLAUS PETER et al. eds., 2001), Rolf Schmidt-Diemitz, Internationale Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit - eine empirische Untersuchung, Der Betrieb (DB), 369 (1999), Gralf-Peter Calliess, Grenzüberschreitende Verbraucherverträge 246 (2006).Google Scholar

2 See http://www.iccwbo.org/court/arbitration/id4398/index.html, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar

3 Triebel, Volker, Der Kampf ums anwendbare Recht, Anwaltsblatt (AnwBl.), 305 (2008), see also Theodore Eisenberg & Geoffrey P. Miller, The Market for Contracts (2007), available at: http://ssrn.com/paper=938557, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar

4 Dammann, Jens C. & Hansmann, Henry, A Global Market for Judicial Services (2007), available at: http://ssrn.com/paper=976115, Jens Dammann & Henry Hansmann, Globalizing Commercial Litigation, 94 Cornell L. Rev., 1 (2008); there is also a global market for legal services which is described e.g. by Carole Silver, Winners and losers in the globalization of legal services: situating market for foreign lawyers, 45 Virginia J. Internat'l L., 897 (2005), Carole Silver, Regulatory mismatch in the international market for legal services, 23 Nw. J. Internat'l L. & Bus., 487 (2003).Google Scholar

5 http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/documents/downloads/jurisdiction_of_choice_brochure.pdf, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar

6 P. 8 of the described British brochure.Google Scholar

7 p. 9.Google Scholar

8 The text is available at: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/rule-britannia/.Google Scholar

9 Volker Triebel, Der Kampf ums anwendbare Recht, AnwBl., 305 (2008).Google Scholar

10 http://www.lawmadeingermany.de/ Google Scholar

11 P. 6 of the described German brochure.Google Scholar

12 P. 19 of the brochure.Google Scholar

13 Haig, Robert L, Can New York's New Commercial Divison Resolve Business Disputes As Well As Anyone?, 13 Touro L. Rev., 191 (1996), Theodore Eisenberg & Geoffrey P. Miller, The Flight to New York: An Empirical Study of Choice of Law and Choice of Forum Clauses in Publicly-Held Companies’ Contracts (2008), available at: http://ssrn.com/paper=1114808 and for the work of the commercial division in general see: http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/comdiv/PDFs/ComDiv-Jan06.pdf, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar

14 http://www.sfb597.uni-bremen.de Google Scholar

15 http://www.staat.uni-bremen.de/pages/forProjektBeschreibung.php?SPRACHE=en&ID=4 Google Scholar

16 For the failed Hague Convention on Choice of Court agreements see e.g. Gralf-Peter Calliess, Value-added Norms, Local Litigation, and Global Enforcement: Why the Brussels-Philosophy failed in The Hague, 5 German L. J. 1489 (2004), Giesela Ruehl, Das Haager Übereinkommen über die Vereinbarung gerichtlicher Zuständigkeiten: Rückschritt oder Fortschritt?, Praxis des Internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts (IPRax), 410 (2005).Google Scholar

17 Calliess, Gralf-Peter, The Making of Transnational Contract Law, 14 Indiana J. Glob. Leg. Stud., 469 (2007).Google Scholar

18 See further, Avinash K. Dixit, Lawlessness and Economics: Alternative Modes of Governance (2004); see also Hans-Jörg Schmidt-Trenz & Schmidtchen, Dieter, Private International Trade in the Shadow of the Territoriality of Law: Why Does It Work?, 58 Southern Economic Journal, 329 (1991).Google Scholar

19 See e.g. Bernstein, Lisa, Opting Out of the Legal System: Extralegal Contractual Relations in the Diamond Industry, 21 J. Leg. Stud. 138 (1992) and recently Andreas Maurer & Anna Beckers, Lex Maritima, in: Soziologische Jurisprudenz – Festschrift für Gunther Teubner zum 65. Geburtstag, 645 (Gralf-Peter Calliess, Andreas Fischer-Lescano, Dan Wielsch & Zumbansen, Peer eds., 2009).Google Scholar

20 See Gralf-Peter Calliess et. al., Transformations of Commercial Law, in Transforming the Golden Age Nation State, 83 (Achim Hurrelmann, Stephan Leibfried et. al. eds., 2007).Google Scholar

21 Williamson, Oliver E., The Economics of Governance, 95 American Economic Review, 1 (2005).Google Scholar

22 Flood, John, Lawyers as Sanctifiers: The Role of Elite Law Firms in International Business Transactions, 14 Indiana J. Glob. Leg. Stud., 35 (2007), Fabian Sosa, Vertrag und Geschäftsbeziehung im grenzüberschreitenden Wirtschaftsverkehr, (2007)Google Scholar

23 This concept was basically described by Ian Macneil, The Many Futures of Contracts, 47 S. Cal. L. Rev., 692 (1974), Stewart Macaulay, Non-Contractual Relations in Business: A Preliminary Study, 28 American Sociological Review, 55 (1963).Google Scholar

24 Charny, David, Nonlegal Sanctions in Commercial Relationships, 104 Harv. L. Rev., 373 (1990).Google Scholar

25 See e.g. Hans Grossmann-Doerth, Das Recht des Überseekaufs, Band I, (1930), Hans Großmann-Doerth, Der Jurist und das autonome Recht des Welthandels, Juristische Wochenschrift (JW), 3447 (1929), Ernst Rabel, Das Recht des Warenkaufs Band 1, (1936).Google Scholar

26 Schlanger, Margo, What We Know and What We Should Know about American Trial Trends (2006), available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=917960, Carolien Klein Haarhuis & Bert Niemeijer, Vanishing or Increasing Trials in the Netherlands?, 2006 Journal of Dispute Resolution, 71 (2006), Nathan L. Hecht, The Vanishing Civil Jury Trial: Trends in Texas Courts and an Uncertain Future, 47 S. Tx. L. Rev., 163 (2005), Marc Galanter, The Vanishing Trial: An Examination of Trials and Related Matters in Federal and State Courts, 1 J.Emp. Leg. Stud., 459 (2004), Gillian K. Hadfield, Where have all the trials gone? Settlements, non-trial adjudications and statistical artifacts in the changing disposition of federal civil cases (2004), available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=574144, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar

27 Hobeck, Paul, Flucht aus der deutschen Gerichtsbarkeit bei wirtschaftsrechtlichen Streitigkeiten - warum?, Deutsche Richterzeitung (DRiZ), 177 (2005).Google Scholar

28 See e.g. Stefan Voigt, Are International Merchants Stupid? – Their Choice of Law Sheds Doubt on the Legal Origin Theory, 5 J. Emp. Leg. Stud. 1 (2008).Google Scholar

29 From 1992 – 2005 the number of cases decreased by 18,5 %, see Gralf-Peter Calliess & Hermann Hoffmann, Effektive Justizdienstleistungen für den globalen Handel, Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik (ZRP), 1 (2009).Google Scholar

30 A detailed description of the history of the German chambers of commerce (Kammern für Handelsachen) gives Hans Karl Sommermeyer, Die Kammer für Handelssachen, (1966).Google Scholar

31 Joerges, Christian, The Bright and the Dark Side of the Consumer's Access to Justice in the EU (2001), available at http://www.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=gj, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar

32 See Lüke, Gerhard, Unorthodoxe Gedanken zur Verkürzung der Prozeßdauer und Entlastung der Zivilgerichte, in: Festschrift Baumgärtel, 349 (Prütting, Hanns ed., 1990). Arbitration courts are a stimulation for an improvement of state courts, see e.g. Ulrich Vultejus, Nachdenken über neue Justizstrukturen - Anfragen eines Juristen an die Rechtssoziologie, in: Armer Rechtsstaat, 119 (Rottleuthner, Hubert ed., 2000), Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, Richterliche Unabhängigkeit in Zeiten struktureller Veränderungen der Justiz, in: Wege gelebter Verfassung in Recht und Politik, 497 (Pitschas, Rainer ed., 2007).Google Scholar

33 See Calliess, Gralf-Peter & Hoffmann, Hermann, Effektive Justizdienstleistungen für den globalen Handel, ZRP, 1 (2009), Gralf-Peter Calliess & Hermann Hoffmann, Justizstandort Deutschland im globalen Wettbewerb, AnwBl., 52 (2009).Google Scholar

34 Ward, Kimberly A., Getting Down to Business - Pennsylvania Must Create a Business Court, Or Face The Consequences, 18 J. L. & Comm., 415 (1999), Mitchell L. Bach & Lee Applebaum, A History of the Creation and Jurisdiction of Business Courts in the last Decade, 60 Business Lawyer, 147 (2004). And for the argued need of specialized courts for business disputes, see Rochelle C. Dreyfuss, Forums of the Future: The Role Of Specialized Courts in Resolving Business Disputes, 61 Brooklyn L. Rev., 1 (1995).Google Scholar

35 Council regulation (EC) No. 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.Google Scholar

36 See e.g. Bruce Benson, To Arbitrate or To Litigate: That Is the Question, 8 Eur. J. L. & Econ., 91 (1999), Bruce Benson, Economic Freedom and the Evolution of Law, 18 Cato Journal, 209 (1998), Bruce Benson, The Enterprise of Law - Justice without the State, (1990); for Germany see the description of the discussion by Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, Modernisierung von Recht und Justiz: eine Herausforderung des Gewährleistungsstaates, (2001).Google Scholar

37 An overview on this debate is given by Gerhard Wagner, PROZEßVERTRÄGE, 358 (1998).Google Scholar

38 See for this point also Kroeze, Maarten J., The Dutch Companies and Business Court as a Specialized Court (2006), available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=976277, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar

39 See also Dammann, Jens & Hansmann, Henry, A Global Market for Judicial Services (2007), available at: http://ssrn.com/paper=976115, last accessed 23 February 2009.Google Scholar