Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Publication Title

Tulane Law Review

Publication Title (Abbreviation)

Tul. L. Rev.

Volume

82

First Page

2147

Last Page

2180

Abstract

Developments in European choice of law seem to offer the United States a tantalizing opportunity for escape from the chaos of state-by-state choice-of-law rules. Specifically, the Rome Regulations provide the sort of uniform choice-of-law rules that have eluded the United States. Also, decisions of the European Court of Justice that permit firms to adopt home-country rules in some situations seem to facilitate jurisdictional choice by private parties. This top-down ordering of choice-of-law rules contrasts with the seemingly chaotic and decentralized system that prevails in the United States. However, decentralized American-style federalism might have something to offer Europe because choice of law in the United States has sparked a type of law market that helps constrain inefficient state regulatory efforts. Viewed from the perspective of which system best fosters a market for law, both the United States and Europe have advantages that each could learn from the other.

Rights

© 2008 Erin A. O'Hara & Larry E. Ribstein

Comments

First published in Tulane Law Review.

Faculty Biography

http://www.law.fsu.edu/our-faculty/profiles/ohara-oconnor

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