ABSTRACT
In the transnational world of commercial shipping, matters of private international law, especially as regards the choice of law in contracts, are of immense significance. This chapter examines the scope and limits of the contractual choice of law provisions in the new Conflicts Law and the Chinese Maritime Code in the context of globalised maritime commerce. Chinese legal methodology differs from western methodologies of legal inquiry. The approach in the chapter highlights these differences in its inquiry but shall essentially rely on the idea of legal functionalism to argue that the rapid developments in Chinese private international law require legal institutions in the People's Republic of China (PRC) to recognise not only the pragmatism of the international shipping and trade sector, but also the notion of 'party autonomy' itself and the importance of judicial creativity in giving effect to any evolving legal and commercial norms.
