The Theoretical And Practical Research On Party Autonomy In Private Autonomy In Private International Law

Over the course of the previous decades, the concept has taken over a steadily growing field of the law. More and more, it is recognized that parties are free to choose the applicable law.Writers on conflicts have failed to provide a theoretical explanation why the parties are allowed to choose the applicable law. Freedom of individual choice of law is very common in practice,which is on the edge of the conflict theory.When we think about the conflict of laws, we always think in terms of states and their relations with each other.We analyze whether a state has an "interest" in the case before applying its law. What we nearly forget is that choice of law, as every other field of law, ultimately pertains to human relations.Legal systems are seen as fighting with each other over the application of law to a certain case. From this perspective, the goal of conflicts theory is to solve the problem. Party autonomy presents a problem for this view:if individuals are allowed to choose which law will be applied to their dispute, it seems as if private persons could determine the outcome of the battle between states-but how is this possible?Party autonomy is an important legal principle that has its roots in the recognition of individual freedom.Accordingly, the author will take a different approach and try to explain party autonomy not as being void from something, but as justified in its own right. The conflicts theory has to be recalibrated. Its goal should not be to solve conflicts between states, but to serve the individual. Furthermore, this article will propose a new normative category, "relatively mandatory rules" and discuss some important implications that the new approach may have for conflict of laws generally.