V The Foreign Element and Party Autonomy in Negotiable Instruments Law

Subject(s):

International financial law — International monetary law — Choice of law

This chapter addresses two trends developing within the choice-of-law doctrine: the relaxation of the ‘foreign element’ requirement and the advances of the party autonomy principle. Chapter III has pointed to the advancing phenomenon of the increasing rate of cross-border commerce, electronic transactions, and scholarly writings as the reasons for a significant relaxation, or even elimination of the ‘foreign element’ requirement. The traditional presence of this element within the factual basis of any given case can be observed in almost every case of contemporary litigation. This suggests that most situations can be classified as private international law cases that would benefit from choice-of-law analysis. The chapter then considers a series of propositions for the introduction of the party autonomy principle as a governing principle of choice-of-law cases of negotiable instruments.