ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general overview of selected examples of private international law to illustrate how jurisdiction, applicable law, and cross-border recognition and enforcement are dealt with under various legal instruments. Each country will have its own national rules on private international law. There have been calls for greater harmonisation of private international law rules, particularly with regard to party autonomy, in order to encourage a market for commercial law through enabling competition between national commercial laws. The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements was adopted in 2005, and has 32 Contracting States. All the countries of the European Union have a common set of private international law rules, some of which apply in respect of parties domiciled in a Member State handed down by a court of a Member State. The applicable law for a contract involving the supply of services is the law of the country where the provider of the services has its habitual residence.
