THE CREEPING CODIFICATION OF THE NEW LEX MERCATORIAPDF电子书下载

Introduction 1

Ⅰ. The New Lex Mercatoria and Modern Trends Towards the Codification of Transnational Commercial Law 1

A. The Doctrine of a New Lex Mercatoria 1

1. The Birth of the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 1

2. Fifty Years of Debate on the New Lex Mercatoria 6

B. From Dogmatism to Pragmatism: Modern Trends Towards the Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria 9

1. The Dogmatic Dilemma: The New Lex Mercatoria Trapped between Legal Positivism and the Need for Codification 9

2. The Pragmatic Approach: Three Projects for the Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria 10

a. The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts 10

b. The Principles of European Contract Law 11

c. The TransLex Principles 12

Ⅱ. Course of the Study 13

Part Ⅰ The Theoretical and Methodical Foundations of the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 17

Chapter 1 Traditional Concepts to Overcome Deficiencies in the Application of Domestic Law in Transnational Commercial Contexts 19

Ⅰ. Inadequacy of Domestic Law as a Legal Framework for Transnational Commercial Transactions 19

A. Conflict of Laws 21

B. Substantive Law 26

1. Statutory Law 26

2. Case Law 28

Ⅱ. Escaping the Dilemma of the International Legal Process 30

A. Solutions on the Conflict of Laws Plane 30

1. The 'Better-Law Approach' 30

2. The 'Comitas' Doctrine 31

B. 'Hybrid' Solutions 34

1. Substantive Law Rules ('Regies Materielles') 34

2. General Principles of Law 35

C. Solutions on the Substantive Law Plane 36

1. Special Statutes for International Trade 36

2. Internationally Useful Construction of Domestic Laws 38

Ⅲ. The Changing Paradigm of International Commercial Law: Privatized Law-Making 40

A. ISO, IAS/IFRS, Basel II: From Technical Standardization to Private Law-Making 41

B. Decentralizing the Law-Making Process 43

C. Legitimizing Privatized Law-Making 46

Ⅳ. Summary 50

Chapter 2 The Dogmatic Foundations of the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 53

Ⅰ. The Status Quo in the Discussion on the Concept of a Transnational Commercial Law 53

A. Antinomy of Viewpoints 53

B. The Need for a Uniform Substantive Law of International Commerce and Trade 55

C. Confusion of Terminology 58

1. Disadvantages of Descriptive Terminology 59

a. De Facto Similarities of Domestic Legal Systems 59

b. Uniform Law Created by International Conventions 60

c. Unified Contractual Provisions 60

2. Substantive Understanding of Terminology 61

a. Three Possible Meanings of 'Lex Mercatoria' 61

b. Consequences of the Different Terminological Approaches 63

Ⅱ. Traditional Objections Against the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 64

A. The New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine Has No Methodical Foundation 65

1. The Methodical Starting Point: 'Functional Legal Comparison' 66

a. The Basic Comparative Approach 66

b. Purpose of the Functional Legal Comparison 69

c. Details of the Comparative Process 69

2. Benefits of the Functional Legal Comparison for the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 71

a. The Use of Comparative Law in the New Lex Mercatoria Context 71

b. Functional Legal Comparison and the Legitimacy of the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 73

c. The Dual Approach: Reception of General Principles of Law and Determination of Common Convictions of the 'Societas Mercatorum' 73

d. The Search for a 'Better' Solution 75

B. The Application of the New Lex Mercatoria Leads to a Decision In Equity 76

1. Practical Difficulties in the Finding of the Law 78

2. The Application of the New Lex Mercatoria Leads to Ex Aequo Et Bono Decisions Without Authorization by the Parties 79

a. Differences Between Equitable Considerations Prescribed by the Law and Ex Aequo Et Bono Decisions 80

b. Ex Aequo Et Bono Decisions as a Source of a New Lex Mercatoria 81

C. The Making of the New Lex Mercatoria Does Not Enjoy the Necessary Transparency 84

1. Theoretical Significance of Legal Transparency 84

2. Increasing Publicity of International Arbitral Awards 85

D. The New Lex Mercatoria Lacks Procedural Legitimacy 87

1. International 'Formulating Agencies' 88

a. Objections to the Idea of 'Codification Through Formulating Agencies' 89

b. Increasing 'Depolitization' of the Decision-Making Process of 'Formulating Agencies' 91

2. International Commercial Arbitration 92

a. Lack of Forensic Quality of the International Arbitral Process 94

b. No Stages of Appeal 95

E. The New Lex Mercatoria Results in the Circumvention of Provisions With Ordre Public Quality 99

F. Domestic Legislatures and Courts Do Not Acknowledge the New Lex Mercatoria 102

1. The Classical Conflict of Laws Doctrine Does Not Accept the Idea of the Transnationalization of Commercial Law 102

2. Approximation of Traditional Conflict of Laws Doctrine and Transnational Law 102

a. Approximation in the Field of International Commercial Arbitration 102

b. Approximation in the Field of Classical Conflict of Laws Doctrine 108

G. The New Lex Mercatoria Does Not Have the Quality of an 'Autonomous Legal System' 114

1. The New Lex Mercatoria as a Legal 'System' 115

a. Ambiguity of the Notion of 'System' 116

b. Increasing Systematization of the New Lex Mercatoria 117

2. The New Lex Mercatoria Does Not Constitute a 'Self-contained' System 118

a. Incomplete Character of Domestic Legal Systems 119

b. Approximation of the Courts' Function in Civil and Common Law Jurisdictions 120

c. 'Opening Clauses' in Domestic Legal Systems 125

d. Consequences for the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 127

3. The New Lex Mercatoria as a 'Transnational' Legal System 128

a. The Functional Notion of Law 130

b. The Pluralistic Theory of Legal Sources: The New Lex Mercatoria as 'Reflexive Law' 131

aa. Rule-making at the 'Periphery' of the Legal Process 131

bb. Globalization and the Law 134

cc. Early Examples of Transnationalism 135

(a) Raiser 135

(b) Zitelmann and Lambert 136

(c) Duguit 137

c. The International Community of Merchants as a Source for the Creation of Transnational Law 137

d. The Contractual Consensus as the Core of Decentralized Law-Making 138

e. Necessity of a 'Multi-Party Agreement'? 143

Ⅲ. Summary 146

Part Ⅱ The New Lex Mercatoria in Practice: New Approaches towards the Codification of Transnational Commercial Law 149

Chapter 3 Previous Projects for the Codification of Transnational Contract Law 151

Ⅰ. Bilateral and Regional Projects 152

A. The Draft of a Franco-Italian Obligation Law 152

1. History and Contents 152

2. Reasons for the Failure of the Project 153

B. The American 'Restatement of the Law of Contracts' 154

1. Drafting History, Contents and Legal Effect 154

2. Creative Function of the Restatements 156

C. The Project of the Former Council for Mutual Economic Assistance for a General Law on International Commercial Contracts 157

D. The Project of a European Civil Code of the Pavia Group 158

E. The Study Group on a European Civil Code 160

Ⅱ. Projects for the Global Unification of Contract Law 162

A. The 'Common Core of Legal Systems' of Cornell Law School 162

1. History and Substance of the Project 162

2. Limited Use of the Project 164

a. Important Legal Systems Were Not Covered by the Study 164

b. The Project Does Not Take Account of Social Reality 165

c. The Project Neglects the Interaction Between General Principles of Law and Concrete Norms as the 'True Basis of a Realistic Approach to Comparative Law' 166

B. The Plan of the UNIDROIT Secretariat for the 'Progressive Codification' of International Trade Law 169

1. The Report of the UNIDROIT Secretariat on the 'Progressive Codification of the Law of International Trade' 169

2. The Plan to Draft a 'Restatement' Anchored in Public International Law 171

a. Rene David's Proposal for a 'Code Modele de Base' 171

b. France's Proposal for the Drafting of a Framework Convention for the Ius Commune of International Trade Law 172

c. Clive Schmitthoff's Proposal for an 'Approval Committee' of UNCITRAL 173

3. First Steps Towards the Drafting of an American-Style Restatement of International Contract Law 174

Ⅲ. Summary 176

Chapter 4 Informal Approaches Towards the Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria 177

Ⅰ. Restatements of International Contract Law 180

A. The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts 180

1. UNIDROIT's Organizational Framework 180

2. Steering Committee and UNIDROIT Working Group 181

a. The Steering Committee 181

b. The Working Group 182

3. The Method Adopted by the Working Group 183

a. The Functional Comparative Methodology 183

b. Methodical Particularities 184

aa. Foreign Trade Laws of (Formerly) Communist Legal Systems 184

(a) The International Commercial Contracts Act of the Former GDR 185

(b) The Law of International Trade of the Former Czechoslovakia 186

(c) The Foreign Economic Contract Law of the People's Republic of China 187

bb. 'Hybrid' Laws and 'Extralegal Phenomena' 187

4. The Basic Decision: 'Restatement' Versus International Convention or Model Law 189

5. Common Features and Differences Between the UNIDROIT Principles and the American Restatements 191

6. Scope of the Principles 193

a. No Definition of 'International' Contracts 194

b. No Definition of 'Commercial' Contracts 195

7. Contents of the Principles 198

a. Structure 198

b. Constituent Elements of a Legal System: The Interaction Between 'General Principles' and 'Rules' 201

aa. The Differentiation Between 'General Principles' and 'Rules' 201

bb. Consequences of this Differentiation for the UNIDROIT Principles 202

8. Dispositive Character of the UNIDROIT Principles 212

9. Influence of Mandatory Provisions of Other Domestic Legal Systems 213

10. Functional Scope of the Principles: The Options Contained in the Preamble 213

a. Application of the Principles in Cases Where 'the Parties Have Agreed That Their Contract Be Governed by Them' 215

b. Application of the Principles in Cases Where 'the Parties Have Agreed That Their Contract Be Governed by General Principles of Law, the Lex Mercatoria or the like' 215

c. The Principles May Provide a Solution to an Issue Raised When It Proves Impossible to Establish the Relevant Rule of the Applicable Law 220

d. The UNIDROIT Principles as a Means to Interpret or Supplement International Uniform Law Instruments 221

e. The UNIDROIT Principles as a Means for the Internationally Useful Interpretation or Supplementation of Domestic Laws 223

aa. Comparative Method of Construction 224

bb. 'Anticipatory' Method of Construction 226

(a) Methodical Basis 226

(b) Limited Use of the Anticipatory Approach for the UNIDROIT Principles 227

cc. Consequences 228

dd. Application of the Concept in Arbitral Practice 229

f. The UNIDROIT Principles as a Model for National and International Legislatures 232

11. The 2004 Edition of the UNIDROIT Principles 233

12. Towards the 2010 Edition of the Principles 234

B. The Principles of European Contract Law of the Lando Commission 234

1. Heterogeneous Character of 'European Private Law' 234

2. The Principles of European Contract Law as the Foundation Stone for a 'European Ius Commune' 238

a. Drafting History 238

b. Structure and Contents 242

c. Options for the Application of the Principles 245

d. The Lando Principles as a First Step towards a European Civil Code 247

Ⅱ. Escaping the Codification Dilemma: The 'Creeping Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria' 250

A. Deficiencies of the Restatement Technique 250

1. No Positive Statement by the Drafters as to the Existence of the New Lex Mercatoria 251

2. Restatements as a 'Comparative Snapshot' 251

B. 'Codification' Versus 'Progressive Development': Irreconcilable Contradiction or Redefinition of Traditional Codification Techniques? 252

1. The Codification of Public International Law Through the International Law Commission 253

2. The Search for a New Codification Method 254

C. The New Concept: The 'Creeping Codification' of the New Lex Mercatoria 255

1. Previous Efforts to Draft Lists of General Principles and Rules of the New Lex Mercatoria 258

2. Contribution of the Lists to the Discussion of the New Lex Mercatoria Doctrine 262

3. The Role of General Principles of Law 263

a. Genetic Function of General Principles of Law 264

b. General Principles of Law as Reference Points for Valuation Processes Within the System of the New Lex Mercatoria 265

4. The Open-Ended Character of the List 267

5. Creeping Codification Online: The TransLex Principles 270

a. History of the List 271

b. History of the Online Codification Platform 'TransLex' (www.trans-lex.org) 271

aa. The Predecessor: The Transnational Law Database (Tldb) 272

bb. From the Tldb to the TransLex Principles 273

c. Features of the TransLex Principles: The Online Codification Process 275

aa. Content and Structure of the List 275

bb. Formulation and Reformulation of the Principles and Rules Contained in the List 277

d. The Meaning of 'Codification' in the Context of the New Lex Mercatoria 281

e. Updating and Developing the List 283

Ⅲ. Summary 287

Conclusion 289

Bibliography 295

Annexes 357

Ⅰ. Professor Philippe Kahn: Vers la quete de la Lex Mercatoria: l'apport de l'ecole de Dijon, 1957-1964 (with English translation) 357

Ⅱ. Professor Berthold Goldman: La Compagnie de Suez, societe internationale, Le Monde, 4th Oct. 1956, p. 3 (English translation) 368

Ⅲ. TransLex Principles 371

Index 407