The idea of national codification is advancing on a global scale in conflict of laws. A large number of legislative projects dealing with codifying and modernizing private international law, both on the national and the supranational level, have been launched in the past few years. Among such recent initiatives, the advances taken by the European and the Japanese legislators are particularly reflecting these developments. On January 1, 2007, the new Japanese 'Act on General Rules for Application of Laws' entered into force replacing the outdated conflict of laws statute of 1898. This major reform finds its parallels in the current efforts of the European Union to create a modern private international law regime for its member states.This volume presents the first comprehensive analysis of the new Japanese private international law available in any western language and contrasts it with corresponding European developments. Most of the contributors from Japan are scholars who were actively involved in and responsible for preparing the new Act. All of them are renowned experts in the field of private international law. Leading European experts in the conflict of laws supplement the Japanese analyses with comparative contributions reflecting the pertinent discussion of parallel endeavours in the EU. To guarantee better understanding, English translations of both the present and the former Japanese statutes have been added.

In terms of the South African Constitution of 1996 there is a general need for an introduction to comparative law and one that covers what is technically known as applied comparative law; more particularly applied comparative law that involves a study of the bills of rights in other countries.

This volume compares the different conceptions of the rule of law that have developed in different legal cultures. It describes the social purposes and practical applications of the rule of law and how it might be improved in the varied circumstances.

The Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law advances and develops a new paradigm for describing, assessing, and understanding the role of domestic courts in the international legal order.

The relationship between domestic courts and international law is usually defined by the frameworks of monism and dualism. The Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law advances and develops a new paradigm for describing, assessing, and understanding the role of domestic courts in the international legal order. Two trends are examined in parallel in this volume. The traditional dividing lines between national and international law norms and institutions have become increasingly blurred. However, the practice of domestic courts can less and less be understood by reference to a formal approach that dictates how national legal orders receive international law. The solutions that courts reach are often based on a variety of other considerations that are not captured by the classical formal models. The aim of the book is to bring together the wide variety of types of engagement, as an important step towards a better understanding of what courts do and, eventually, towards a normative exercise of articulating principles or guidelines for the engagement of domestic courts with international law. To bring together the pragmatic approaches of domestic courts, the International Law Association Study Group on Principles on the Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law engaged in studies with experts from a variety of backgrounds. On the basis of the Study Group's Final Report, the editors of this book continued to work with experts from different jurisdictions to collect and analyse alternate pragmatic forms of engagement from domestic courts. This publication contains the outcome of this process.

Comparative legal studies are at last commanding the thoughts of contemporary jurists� Alice ES Tay. Drawing on an impressive ancestry in comparative law, the 22 contributions in this volume by authors from Asia, Australia and Europe go further in their complex conception of law and culture. They look at the new principles and concepts of a transnational, global law in new, multiple contexts and in diverse juxtapositions with new institutions and authorities. In an unplanned but cohesive pattern the individual contributions together open a fresh vision of the use and value of comparative legal studies for the assessment of the function and limitations of the law of a global society.

This book is a revised and expanded version of the General Course delivered by the author at the Hague Academy of International Law. It contains three parts that discuss theory and practice of adjudicatory authority in private international law in comparative perspective focusing on the United States, Germany and the European Union. The first part examines the foundations and emergence of jurisdictional theory elaborating on the types of adjudicatory authority and the design of jurisdictional provisions. Part two covers basic themes and pervasive issues reflecting, inter alia, on the actor sequitor forum rei principle, choice of forum agreements, forum non conveniens, antisuit injunctions and the lis pendens doctrine. The last part explores the role of international instruments for achieving convergence and harmonization. It analyzes the design of judgments conventions and in particular the efforts of the Hague Conference on Private International Law to foster worldwide harmonization. The volume was completed with the assistance of Dr. Eckart Gottschalk. Dr. Gottschalk is an Associate with CMS Hasche Sigle in Hamburg specializing on corporate law. Before he started practicing, he served as a Joseph Story Research Fellow at Harvard Law School, 2005-2006.

Now in its second edition, and with significant updates and new material, Gilles Cuniberti’s innovative textbook offers a comparative treatment of private international law, a field of great importance in an increasingly globalized world. Written by a leading voice in the field, and using a text and cases approach, this text systematically presents and compares civil law and common law approaches to issues primarily within the United Kingdom, United States, France and the EU, as well as offering additional updated insights into rules applicable in other jurisdictions such as Japan, China and Germany.