This is the seventh edition of the leading work on transnational and comparative commercial, financial, and trade law, covering a wide range of complex topics in the modern law of international commerce and finance. As a guide for students and practitioners it has proven to be unrivalled. The work is divided into three volumes, each of which can be used independently or as part of the complete work. 



Volume 1, in the first chapter, covers the roots and foundations of private law; the different origins, structure, and orientation of civil and common law; the forces behind the emergence of a new transnational commercial and financial legal order, its meaning, concepts, and operation; the theoretical basis of the transnationalisation of the law in the professional sphere in that order; its methodology and the autonomous sources of the new law merchant or modern lex mercatoria, its international finance-driven impulses, and its relationship to domestic and transnational public policy and public order requirements. The second chapter covers the transnationalisation of dispute resolution in that order, especially international arbitration, and contains a critical analysis of the main challenges to its success, continuing credibility, and effectiveness. 



All three volumes may be purchased separately or as part of a single set.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1: The Transnationalisation of Commercial and Financial Law. The New Lex Mercatoria and Its Sources 

Part I The Emergence of the Modern Lex Mercatoria, its Method, Structure and Antecedents. Civil or Common Law Thinking

1.1 Introduction 

1.2 The Origin of Civil Law. Its Traditional Approach to Law Formation and to the Operation of Private Law. Effect on Commercial and Financial Law 

1.3 The Origin and Evolution of the Common Law. Its Approach to Law, Private Law Formation and Operation 

1.4 The Sources of Law in the Civil and Common Law Tradition. The Approach in Transnational Private Law and the Hierarchy of Sources of Law and their Norms in the Modern Lex Mercatoria 

1.5 Different Legal Orders, Their Manifestation, and the Competition Between Them. Cultural, Sociological and Economic Undercurrents in the Formation of Transnational Commercial and Financial Law (Modern Lex Mercatoria) 

Part II The Nature, Status and Function of Private International Law

2.1 Modern Private International Law 

2.2 The Modern European and US Approaches to Conflicts of Law 

2.3 Interaction of Private International Law and Uniform Law 

Part III The Substance and Operation of Transnational Commercial and Financial Law or the Modern Lex Mercatoria

3.1 The Lex Mercatoria, Interrelation with Private International Law, Legitimation 

3.2 The Hierarchy of Norms from Different Legal Sources in the Modern Lex Mercatoria: Elaboration of the Positive Law 

3.3 Operation of the Lex Mercatoria. Objections 



Chapter 2: The Transnationalisation of Dispute Resolution 

Part I International Commercial Arbitration

1.1 Introduction 

1.2 The Process of Legal Transnationalisation. The Operation of the Modern Lex Mercatoria. Transnational and Domestic Public Policy Considerations in International Arbitrations 

1.3 International Arbitration: Initial Steps and Complications 

1.4 The Conduct of the Proceedings and the Award 

1.5 The Role of National Courts 

1.6 The New York Convention. International Recognition and Enforcement of the Awards 

Part II International Financial Arbitration

2.1 Introduction 

2.2 Building Blocks of Private Law in International Finance. The Applicable Law and its Transnationalisation 

2.3 Public Policy Concerning Financial Instruments. Remedies 

2.4 Complications in International Financial Arbitrations 

2.5 The Emergence of P.R.I.M.E. 

Part III Foreign Investment Arbitration

3.1 Introduction 

3.2 The Basic Foreign Investment Protections. Direct Investors' Claims and the Role of Investment Arbitration 

3.3 The Applicable Law in Foreign Investments 

3.4 Proprietary and Non-proprietary Takings 

3.5 Dispute Resolution and The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The EU 2014 Questionnaire, Subsequent Action, and the EU/Canada Treaty 

Part IV The Reasoning of International Arbitrators

4.1 Introduction 

4.2 A Proper Perspective 

4.3 Conclusions