A Study On The Effectiveness Of Standardized Jurisdiction Clause

The wide apply of standardized jurisdiction clause is the inevitable result of the development of mass production and large enterprises.It is also the inevitable result of economy and technology development.The core value of standard terms lies in the economic benefits they bring.Standard terms accelerate the speed of daily transactions;save contracting time and cost;avoid the waste of manpower and material resources caused by repeated contracting,and improve the efficiency of business transactions.The jurisdiction agreement is of great value in improving the efficiency of dispute resolution,which is highly consistent with the standard terms in terms of cost saving and efficiency improvement.Standard terms can also help to protect the other party equally and prevent operators from differentiated treatment due to different consuruer cognition levels.In addition,the standard clause can determine and predict the potential legal liability,which is conducive to the security of the transaction.Therefore,the application of standard clauses has a positive significance.However,at the same time,the standard clause also has its inherent shortcomings.Different from the traditional contracting mode,the conclusion of standard terms lacks the agreement of the other party,which greatly impairs the freedom of contracting.In addition,both the standard clause and the jurisdiction agreement may become the tool for the strong parties to abuse the freedom of contract,resulting in unfair transactions.Therefore,the existence of format jurisdiction clause is reasonable,but it must be strictly regulated.The standardized jurisdiction clause has the dual nature of both the jurisdiction agreement and the standard clause,which requires that the standardized jurisdiction clause must satisfy both the effective requirements of the jurisdiction agreement in the procedural law and the effective requirements of the standard clause in the substantive law.To be specific,the subject must be legal,which means both parties of the transaction must be persons with full civil capacity of contracting ability,and the law does not make special restrictions on the identity of both parties of the transaction.Secondly,the content must be legal,which means the jurisdiction agreement can only apply to specific kind of cases.Finally,the procedure must be legal,which means the agreement must be based on the true consensus between the two parties,and only by mutual agreement can it be established.In addition,it is also necessary to consider the special provisions on the effectiveness of the jurisdiction agreement,such as the definition of formal validity,the judgment of court certainty,the confirmation of court trial level and so on.The precondition for the establishment of standard terms is that the terms must be effectively entered into the contract,which requires that the terms shall not be abnormal terms,otherwise they shall not be deemed to be entered into the contract.It also requires that the contract content does not violate the law.Finally,the provision party must take full responsibility in disclosure to ensure that the other party thoroughly knows the content of the contract.As for the standard contract with weak counterparts,the provision provider should take higher degree of responsibility in explaining contract clause,and the use of exclusive standardized jurisdiction clause must be strictly restricted.In China's judicial practice,there are different standards for judging the effect of different types of standardized jurisdiction clauses.According to Contract Law and relevant judicial interpretations,the loose review standard is mostly applied to the ordinary contract where both parties share equal transaction status.Under such circumstance,if standardized jurisdiction clause is formally prominent enough,it is considered as effective.If the negotiation strength between both parties is seriously out of balance,such as the consumer contract,article 31 of<The Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on the Application of the Civil Procedure Law>shall be applied.Substantive justice shall be examined from the perspective of fairness,focusing on the protection of consumers and other vulnerable groups.To better judge the effectiveness of standardized jurisdiction clause in different standard contracts,firstly,we should amplify the definition of "written form" in jurisdiction agreement and make the other party confirm it if they do receive and understand it.Secondly,the weak party should be provided with more options in selecting courts.Finally,actual connection principle shall be treated differently in domestic jurisdiction agreement and in foreign jurisdiction agreement;so that domestic consumers can choose neutral and professional courts to better defend their rights.