Trade Usages and Implied Terms in the Age of Arbitration

Trade Usages and Implied Terms in the Age of Arbitration
Author: Fabien Gélinas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0190237066

If a dispute between commercial parties reaches the stage of arbitration, the cause is usually ambiguous contract terms. The arbitrator often resolves the dispute by applying trade usages, either to interpret the ambiguous terms or to determine what the given contract's terms really are. This recourse to trade usages does not create many problems on the domestic level. However, international arbitrations are far more complex and confusing. Trade Usages and Implied Terms in the Age of Arbitration provides a clear explanation of how usages, and more generally the implicit or implied content of international commercial contracts, are approached by some of the most influential legal systems in the world. Building on these approaches and taking account of arbitral practice, this book explores possible conceptual frameworks to help shape the emerging transnational law of trade usage. Part I covers the treatment and conceptual grounding of usages and implied terms in the positive law of influential jurisdictions. Part II defines the approach to usages and implied terms adopted in the design and implementation of important uniform law instruments dealing with international business contracts, as well as in the practice of international commercial arbitration. Part III concludes the book with an outline of what the conceptual grounding of trade usages could be in the transnational law of commercial contracts.

Trade Usages and Implied Terms in the Age of Arbitration

Trade Usages and Implied Terms in the Age of Arbitration
Author: Fabien Gélinas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2016
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199916012

If a dispute between commercial parties reaches the stage of arbitration, the cause is usually ambiguous contract terms. The arbitrator often resolves the dispute by applying trade usages, either to interpret the ambiguous terms or to determine what the given contract's terms really are. This recourse to trade usages does not create many problems on the domestic level. However, international arbitrations are far more complex and confusing. Trade Usages and Implied Terms in the Age of Arbitration provides a clear explanation of how usages, and more generally the implicit or implied content of international commercial contracts, are approached by some of the most influential legal systems in the world. Building on these approaches and taking account of arbitral practice, this book explores possible conceptual frameworks to help shape the emerging transnational law of trade usage. Part I covers the treatment and conceptual grounding of usages and implied terms in the positive law of influential jurisdictions. Part II defines the approach to usages and implied terms adopted in the design and implementation of important uniform law instruments dealing with international business contracts, as well as in the practice of international commercial arbitration. Part III concludes the book with an outline of what the conceptual grounding of trade usages could be in the transnational law of commercial contracts.

Decision-making in International Construction Arbitration

Decision-making in International Construction Arbitration
Author: Haytham Besaiso
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2023-10-03
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1000957136

This book contributes to the empirical understanding of how arbitrators make their decisions on the substance of commercial disputes arising from international construction projects. It is based on in-depth interviews with 28 international construction arbitrators and on the analysis of dozens of international construction arbitration awards. The combined experience of those who participated in the author’s research amounted to hundreds of international construction arbitrations (~ 300 cases) in addition to several hundred international commercial arbitrations. It presents the results of the first and largest research to be undertaken in this area, and it will be useful to arbitration practitioners and scholars and to the wider audience of dispute resolution students, practitioners, and theorists. In turn, the book examines to what extent international arbitrators apply the law as the substantive norm, providing an explanation for that, and then offers insights into whether arbitrators, in fact, lean towards commercial and transnational norms to construe the parties’ contract before discussing to what extent international arbitrators take into account fairness considerations to reach their decisions on the merits of the parties’ claims. The book also examines to what extent international arbitrators apply mandatory rules of foreign law. Lastly, it provides insight into the effect of arbitrators’ background characteristics on their decisions. Written for arbitration practitioners (arbitrators and legal counsel) and scholars, the book will be useful for both experienced arbitrators and those starting their arbitration career or studying for their arbitration qualification. It will also be useful for project professionals involved in contract management and dispute resolution.

The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration

The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration
Author: Gilles Cuniberti
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 627
Release: 2022-11-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 178811034X

This Commentary provides rich and detailed analysis both of the provisions of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the Model Law), and of its implementation, including a comparative account of the operation of the Model Law in the numerous jurisdictions which have adopted it throughout the world.

Ex Aequo et Bono as a Response to the ‘Over-Judicialisation’ of International Commercial Arbitration

Ex Aequo et Bono as a Response to the ‘Over-Judicialisation’ of International Commercial Arbitration
Author: Nobumichi Teramura
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2020-05-12
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9403520809

Despite its many distinguished proponents over time, ex aequo et bono – the idea of deciding disputes on the basis of what an adjudicator regards as fair and equitable – has failed to take hold in international commercial arbitration (ICA). Formalisation and fossilisation of arbitral procedure, as manifested in the increasing use of litigation-style practice, unfortunately reign instead. This bold and challenging book argues that parties to an arbitration should be more willing for their cross-border disputes to be decided (and arbitrators should be more prepared to decide those disputes) in accordance with broad principles of equity and fairness, rather than by strict adherence to technical rules of law. Putting forward suggestions based on extensive research and doctrinal considerations, this book invites us to confront what ICA was supposed to be, what it now is and what it can be. In particular, Dr Teramura discusses how, by resorting to ex aequo et bono, arbitrators can: construe contractual terms, including the limits; apply trade usages; deal with mandatory rules of a given forum or place of performance; minimise the cost and length of time that arbitration takes; avoid the abuse of discretion; and ensure predictable results. The book examines significant differences in the way that ex aequo et bono arbitration is understood among various state and international institutions. It attempts to identify a ‘common core’ of universally accepted concepts underlying those different understandings. The book argues that ex aequo et bono has the potential to reform ICA without undermining its positive aspects. Along the way, it discusses the implications of ex aequo et bono arbitration on the now widely used UNCITRAL Model Law on ICA. It should thus appeal to lay business persons and commercial law practitioners who are looking for an economical and efficient way to solve business disputes within a globalised arbitration framework.

Customary Law Today

Customary Law Today
Author: Laurent Mayali
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2018-06-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3319733621

This book addresses current practices in customary law. It includes contributions by scholars from various legal systems (the USA, France, Israel, Canada etc.), who examine the current impacts of customary law on various aspects of private law, constitutional law, business law, international law and criminal law. In addition, the book expands the traditional concept of the rule of law, and argues that lawyers should not narrowly focus on statutory law, but should instead pay more attention to the impact of practices on “real legal life.” It states that the observation of practices calls for a stronger focus on usage, customs and traditions in our legal systems – the idea being not to replace statutory law, but to complement it with customary observations.

The FIDIC Red Book Contract

The FIDIC Red Book Contract
Author: Christopher Seppälä
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 1073
Release: 2023-04-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9403520639

Conditions of Contract for Construction – known universally as the Red Book – published by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (known by its French acronym FIDIC) is the most widely used standard form of international construction contract. This book is a detailed commentary on the 2022 reprint of the 2017 FIDIC Red Book. For each of the Red Book’s 168 Sub-Clauses the commentary: identifies changes from the 1999 edition; analyses the meaning and significance of the Sub-Clause and lists related Sub-Clauses; describes related international arbitration awards, national court decisions and legal principles; and, where appropriate, proposes amendments to improve the Sub-Clause. As the FIDIC Yellow and Silver Books are very similar to the Red Book, much of the commentary is equally applicable to those forms of contract. The author is a FIDIC ‘insider’ having served for more than thirty years as Legal/Special Adviser to, or Member of, the FIDIC Contracts Committee which is responsible for preparing FIDIC’s contracts. This book is an indispensable resource for all parties called on to work with a FIDIC contract. With guidance for every stage of a construction project, whether in drafting, negotiating, performing, interpreting, or administering a FIDIC contract, the book’s easy-to-use structure includes such issues and topics as the following: introduction to FIDIC and its contracts and to publications of FIDIC and others relevant to the Red Book including the 2022 FIDIC Contracts Guide; critical examination of each Sub-Clause and advice for amending the same in order to better adapt it to the interests of each party (the Employer or the Contractor); special attention to each Sub-Clause relating to the Contractor’s and the Employer’s claims and claims procedure and to how to assert claims effectively, as well as to time bars and other pitfalls and how they may be overcome; detailed examination of Sub-Clauses relating to the referral of issues or disputes to the Dispute Avoidance/Adjudication Board and, if necessary, to international arbitration, and optimal strategies for doing so; discussion of the changes required to the 2017 Red Book by The World Bank’s Conditions of Particular Application (‘COPA’); reference, where appropriate, to the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and trade usages; comprehensive discussion of practical issues that arise under common law, civil law and international legal principles, especially when a contract is with a state or public body; comparison of common law and civil law methods of contract interpretation and a suggested practical approach to interpretation given a FIDIC contract’s international arbitration clause; and overcoming problems that can arise when a contract is governed by the law of a less-developed country. Legal and technical terms are clearly defined, and numerous figures and tables are included to illustrate steps in contract procedures. Detailed attention is paid to terminological distinctions among the various legal traditions, including a comparison of British-English and American-English construction contract terms. Unquestionably the most detailed and thorough commentary ever published on the FIDIC Red Book, this highly practical work enables preparers of FIDIC contracts to amend and adapt the Red Book’s provisions to a particular project. Dispute adjudicators, arbitrators, and judges will welcome the book’s authoritative guidance on interpreting the provisions of a FIDIC contract, and engineers and other construction professionals involved in contract administration will appreciate the book’s many practical features.

The Politics of Private Transnational Governance by Contract

The Politics of Private Transnational Governance by Contract
Author: A. Claire Cutler
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2017-03-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1315409569

Outsourcing state functions and the limits of existing regulatory regimes -- Contract as transnational regulatory governance -- The emergence of a transnational private regime for the regulation of PMSCs -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 14. Conclusion: Empire through contract: A private international law perspective -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Self-constituting regimes: Private international law's libertarian view of contract -- Possible antidotes: From the undiscovered DNA of contract law to new global forms of legal pluralism -- Notes -- References -- Index

Hardship and Force Majeure in International Commercial Contracts

Hardship and Force Majeure in International Commercial Contracts
Author: Fabio Bortolotti
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2019-07-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9403514736

Force Majeure and Hardship are commonly invoked in international trade when unforeseen events occur making performance impossible or impracticable. Most national legislators provide rules to deal with these issues, but the specifi c solutions adopted in domestic laws vary substantially from one country to another. In recent years the growing complexity of trade in a globalized world has greatly increased the number of situations where a party can invoke force majeure or hardship. Parties need to be able to analyse the nature and characteristics of force majeure and hardship and look for contractual clauses which can regulate these issues in conformity with their needs. Written by international practitioners, this dossier explores the evolution of the rules on hardship, the ICC Clause on Hardship and the perspectives of contract adaptation by arbitrators. The section on Force Majeure includes an overview of recent arbitral case law (impediment beyond sphere of control and risk of the obligor; foreseeability; causation; notice requirement), analysis of the ICC 2003 Force Majeure Clause and an update on its revision. Two other important themes are included: the relationship between force majeure and applicable law, general principles of law and trade usages as well as the impact of economic sanctions.