Why The Cape Town Convention is Really Important?

To understand the success of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (2001) ("Cape Town Convention"), which purports to harmonize the law of secured interests of high value mobile equipment in international transactions, we must analyze a case when the Cape Town Convention did not exist. Before the Cape Town Convention, the Geneva Convention^[1] applied a uniform conflict of law rule. Therefore, it is important to first understand the concept of conflict of law rules at the outset then observe the provisions of the Geneva Convention so that the importance of the Cape Town Convention can be appreciated.

The Concept of Conflict of Law Rules

The function of conflict of law rules is to indicate merely the legal system which is to be used,^[2] not the substantive relief or remedy sought in the particular case as opposed to the internal or domestic law rules. Therefore, conflict of law rules are generally not concerned with the