国际私法的欧洲化：对新加坡的意义.pdfVIP

Singapore Journal of International Comparative Law (1997) 1 pp 69 – 90 THE EUROPEANISATION OF PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW : THE SIGNIFICANCE FOR SINGAPORE Many aspects of English private international law have been Europeanised. There are harmonised rules in relation to jurisdiction and contract choice of law. Commercial judgment s circulate freely throughout Western Europe . These rules may well apply even though one of the parties is a Singaporean resident. This raises problems for the unwary practitioner. More fundamentally, it raises questions as to the way that private international law in Singapore should develop now that the English common law has been replaced by European private international law. I. INTRODUCTION DURING the last ten years there have been more fundamental changes in English private international law than at any time in the history of the subject. This has come about because of the increasing Europeanisation of private international law, ie, the harmonisation of private international rules in Europe. Singapore lawyers may well assume that the new European 1 law is irrelevant to them. Whilst understandable, such an attitude would be misguided. It is the purpose of this article to show that the European rules on private international law have considerable significance for Sin- gapore lawyers, and that the latter need to have some understanding of the new law. Before turning to this, something needs to be said, albeit in brief, about the extent of the Europeanisation of private international law. II. THE EUROPEANISATION OF PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW This process has affected,