ABSTRACT
The Convention draws a fundamental dichotomy between the situation where the applicable law is chosen by the parties, and that where, in the absence of choice, the applicable law is to be ascertained objectively. The overall schematic approach that is adopted by the Rome Convention in relation to contractual obligations should be welcomed. Where the parties have made an express choice of law, that law applies to their contract. Under the English common law rules, in the absence of an express or implied choice, the proper law is ascertained by looking for the system of law with which the contract in question has its closest and most real connection. In respect of freedom of choice, the last sentence of article 3(1) provides that: ‘By their choice the parties can select the applicable law to the whole or a part only of the contract’.
