Regulatory Competition in Contract Law and Dispute Resolution

In many regions of the world and across various fields, law has become a product. Individuals and companies seek attractive legal regulations and countries advertise their legal wares globally as they compete for customers. In order to analyze this development and to develop policy recommendations with respect to contract law and dispute resolution a conference was held in Munich in October 2011. The conference brought together leading scholars in the field of contract law and dispute resolution both from the US and Europe.

This book compiles revised versions of the various papers and comments produced for that conference.

The following subjects are covered:

• Legal rules and economic growth: clearings and thickets (Robert Cooter)
• Make it or buy it – a new look at legal transplants (Ralf Michaels)
• Law as a by-product: theories of private law production (Larry Ribstein)
• Global law’s toolbox: How standards form contracts (Dan Wielsch)
• Private production of transnational regulation through standard for contracts (Hugh Collins)
• Contracting employee involvement: an analysis of bargaining over employee involvement rules for a Societas Europaea (Horst Eidenmüller)
• Can living will regulations revive contractual approaches to bankruptcy? (Adam Feibelman)
• Choice of law and choice of forum in Europe (Stefan Vogenauer)
• The choice of law framework for efficient regulatory competition in contract law (Giesela Rühl)
• Characteristics of contract laws and the European Optional Instrument (Hugh Beale)
• Dispute Resolution as a product: competition between civil justice systems (Gerhard Wagner)
• The English vs. the American rule on attorneys’ fees: an empirical study of attorney fees clauses in publicly-held companies’ contracts (Theodore Eisenberg)
• Jurisdictional competition for dispute resolution: courts versus arbitration (Erin O’Hara)