Application Of The Most Closest Connect Doctrine In The Field Of Foreign Contract

As one of the basic principles of contemporary private international law, the most closest connect doctrine was first applied in the field of contract. It was then applied in the areas such as tort, conflict of nationality, personal relationship, and determination of jurisdiction areas,because it is both stable and flexible. It has been reflected in the legal regulations and legal practice all over the world that the most closest connect doctrine provides the basic guide in the choice-of-law legislation in the field of foreign contract. This paper reviews how the most closest connect doctrine is applied in the legal regulations and practice of determining applicable law of contract. We hope this review provides a good reference to the legislation and jurisdiction of related laws, and a direction the study of its applications in China.This paper covers three major topics. The first part focuses on the definition of the most closest connect doctrine and the history of its applications in the field of contract. The core value of "The most closest connect doctrine" is the definition Savigny’s "Sitz des kechtsverhaltuisses" was considered the origin of the most closest connect doctrine; In the1950’s, judicial cases in US and UK formed the foundation of the practice of the principle; The publication of US 《Restatement(Second) of Conflict of Laws (1971)》marked the establishment of the most closest connect doctrine in the law of contract The Second part looks at the benefits and limitations of the most closest connect doctrine. The benefit of this principle is that it breaks the limitation from the traditional conflict rules, coordinates and integrates the different laws. The limitation of this principle is the uncertainty of its applications in laws and the creased cost of law suit.. We described the application of the law of the place of act theory, the part autonomy theory, the most closest connect doctrine and the proper law of contract in determining applicable law of contract and three types of the legislation applying the most closest connect doctrine in foreign countries:pure type, improved type and blended-in type. We then describe three methods to determine the point of the most closest connect in contracts, element analysis, characteristic analysis and outcome analysis. Finally, we used the empirical analysis to review the application of the most closest connect doctrine in the new-emerging international contract such as international e-commerce contract, international intellectual property contract, consumer contract and international employment contract etc. The third part of the paper reveals the current practice of applying the most closest connect doctrine in the contract law in terms of legislation and jurisdiction in China.We listed the challenges in applying the most closest connect doctrine during legislation and jurisdiction and discussed the possible solutions to face these challenges.