This book is an article-by-article commentary of the UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts (2004), the global standard in the law for international contracts. The UNIDROIT Principles have been the model for numerous national codifications (China, Russia, Estonia and Lithuania). Moreover, they are becoming increasingly indispensible in arbitrations of disputes arising out of international contracts, either as directly applicable law or as a valuable source for the interpretation of other laws governing the contracts, such as especially the CISG. Even their application by state courts has been seriously taken into consideration in the negotiations of the future Rome I Regulation.

The Commentary provides a comprehensive analysis of each provision of the Principles in the light of existing authorities and the larger comparative perspective. Thereby, it offers both practitioners and scholars from different legal backgrounds an easy and profound access to the Principles and therefore greatly enhances their use in practice of international arbitration as well as for research and teaching related to international contracts.

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This work provides practitioners and scholars alike with quick access to and in-depth comparative analysis of the laws of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile (including the new law on international commercial arbitration of September 2004), Paraguay, and Uruguay, as well as of the relevant international treaties, such as especially the MERCOSUR-Agreements of 1998.

The book follows the structure of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, which guarantees easy access to the sometimes complicated national laws. The direct topical comparative analysis provides for a deeper insight than mere country reports. Interviews with nearly 100 judges, lawyers, and scholars assure that the practical reality is well reflected in the analysis. A bilingual annex contains the English translations of all relevant legislation.

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This contribution to the Encyclopedia traces the historical development of the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and provides a global overview of the topic, with special focus on the UN Convention signed in 1958 in New York.

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This article builds on the earlier (2004) comparative study on the subject (see below) and makes specific proposals for amendment of the Brazilian Arbitration Act 9307 of 1996.

Latin American law has largely been neglected by mainstream comparative law. Common wisdom has been that Latin American law is largely an offspring and, at best, a variation of French law, due to its reception of the Code Napoléon. Accordingly, Latin-American law has been put in the box of the "French" or "Romanistic" legal family - and left there without much more attention. Latin American law as the object of comparative law as well as comparative law as a subject in Latin American jurisprudence have developed as a niche topic, whose shadow has all too often been used as a battle-ground for influence and dominion.

This article analyses the development of comparative law in Latin America and its significance for, and impact on, the legal systems of the Latin American countries today. In a first part, it shows how the necessity of legal comparative analysis reached the new continent as a consequence of the implementation of the Spanish and Portuguese legal order. The second part is dedicated to the young Latin American nations' independence and their efforts of codification under the influence European laws, especially Roman, French, and German law in the 19th Century. The third part analyses the growing influence of the common law, especially U.S. American law, on the development of commercial and economic law in the Latin American countries in the 20th Century, as well as the state of art of comparative law up to the present.

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War fuelled by conflict-related economic interests is an ancient phenomenon whose topicality remains unchanged, giving rise to the problem of how to cope with trade that feeds upon the existence of violent conflict. Especially in Africa, violent rivalry over huge economic profits in regions with extremely fragile government structures creates human suffering on a scale that the international community cannot ignore. This article concentrates on the role of sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council in this context. The reviewed material suggests that the attempts at establishing an international legal framework that could contain the negative effects of conflicted-related trade – the "dark side" of trade – is to date highly disappointing, not just from a humanitarian point of view. The article shows how the Security Council proves to be incapable of providing security and stability in peripheral areas of the world where the economic interests of its permanent members are at stake.

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This article in Portuguese language (shorter French version in: S. Monclaire / J.F. Deluchey (eds.), Gouverner l'intégration : les politiques nationale et internationale du Brésil de Lula (Paris, Pepper 2006)) traces the roots of resistance of Latin American States against international arbitration between foreign investors and host countries. It sketches how all bilateral treaties on the protection of foreign investments signed by the Brazilian government have been systematically rejected by the Brazilian Parliament. This rejection was based on arguments that were thought buried long time ago, i.e. the arguments of the notorious Calvo doctrine.

The author argues that the foundations of this doctrine can hardly be ignored. Brazil's resistance and the persistence of the Calvo doctrine give valuable insight on how the present investment dispute settlement mechanisms contained bilateral and multilateral investment treaties would have to be adapted in order to remove their "imperialist" image and gain broad global acceptability.

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This comparative case study unveils a serious technical flaw of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration regarding the time limit for invoking defects of an international arbitral award: due to an inconsistent equation of foreign awards and awards made inland, the rules on enforcement cancel the limitation period of three months for requesting setting aside, thus allowing the party that lost arbitration to just await enforcement procedures before reacting. This structural defect is reproduced in jurisdictions that have been influenced by the Model Law, such as the Brazilian arbitration law of 1996 and the Paraguayan law of 2002. The comparison with the adoption of the Model Law by the German legislator shows how this defect can be avoided. Finally, the practical consequences of the question are evaluated.

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Corporate law as it exists in any given country today is the result of roughly 200 years of legal change and legal adaptation. Provisions that today are hailed as indicators for good corporate governance did not exist when the first statutory corporate laws were put in place. This simple insight raises the question about the evolution of corporate law. In this paper we analyze ten jurisdictions representing the three major legal families as well as transplant countries and origin countries to explore the patterns of legal change over time. We find origin countries from common law and civil law families have experienced substantial legal change and adaptation over time. By contrast, legal transplants from both legal families have often retained the transplanted law for decades despite substantial economic change. The area of corporate law where we find the most significant change over time are corporate finance provisions. Provisions concerning corporate governance structures and entry and exit rules are also investigated.

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