The Interrelationship of European Jurisdiction and Choice of Law in Contract

Compared with scholarship in other conflicts topics, less attention has been paid to the interrelationship of jurisdiction and choice of law.1 It is generally agreed that as a matter of principle jurisdiction and choice of law are distinct issues and need different processes. The conceptual dichotomy is the foundation of the contemporary conflicts system, including the European harmonisation of private international law. The practice of the EU is to have different legal instruments governing jurisdiction and choice of law in contracts. The European jurisdiction rules in civil and commercial matters are contained in the Brussels regime, including Council Regulation 44/2001 (“Brussels I Regulation”), which replaced the Brussels Convention in 1 March 2002, and the Lugano Convention.2 The European choice of law in contracts is harmonised by the Rome Convention of 1980, which has been undergoing the process of conversion into a Council Regulation (“Rome I”). At the time of writing this article, the European Parliament has approved the amended text of the Rome I Regulation.3 Since the April 2008 Journal of Private International Law 35