The Rome Convention: Different Approaches

Originally published on Mondaq, June 2003

The rules of conflicts of law for contractual obligations vary from country to country and there are very different approaches to how to solve the problem of which law should be chosen. Furthermore the differences between various types of contracts complicate the situation: a mechanical choice of law rule, for example, may be welcome for a contract to sell, or a contract of employment or a contract for the carriage of goods by sea. On the other hand, the same mechanical rule may give rise to a lot of problems in matters concerning offer and acceptance, capacity of parties, contractual formalities or illegality¹. For this reason almost every legal system approaches the problem of conflict of laws in the contractual field with flexibility and sensitivity both to the different circumstances of the contract and to the situation which has arisen between the parties².