The Doctrine Of Consensual Jurisdiction For Foreign-related Contracts In China And Way Of Improvement

As an important system for alleviating conflicts of jurisdiction over the world,the doctrine of consensual jurisdiction for foreign-related contracts is the key principle of party autonomy in the field of private international law.Under the doctrine,the parties of international civil and commercial transactions are entitled to choose the competent court to adjudicate the disputes between them.Though it might impair a country's judicial sovereign,most countries in the world accept the doctrine as a reasonable concession after weighing the pros and cons,so does China.And,the standards and requirements of the jurisdiction agreement are in a lenient trend in recent years in China,either in law or in practice.After a comprehensive review of existing laws and regulations and judicial practices of courts,it is not difficult to find that there is still further room for broadening the adjudicative application of such doctrine and clarifying the related notions in adjudicative practices.Besides,there is a gap between laws in black letters and laws in practice.In addition,when judging the validity of the choice of court agreements for foreign-related contracts,the court may be confronted with numerous potential problems beyond existing laws,which may cast a doubt over the effectiveness of dispute resolution.This article analyzes the legal nature and the validity of choice of court agreements,based on the current legislation and adjudication in China.And the article attempts to find major problems in the application of the consensual jurisdiction doctrine in China's legislation and judicial practices by the method of comparative law in order to seek solutions for the improvement.