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Clavel, Sandrine --- "The Regulatory Function of Choice of Law Rules Applying to Contracts for Services in the European Union" [2009] ELECD 313; in Cafaggi, Fabrizio; Muir Watt, Horatia (eds), "The Regulatory Function of European Private Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: The Regulatory Function of European Private Law

Editor(s): Cafaggi, Fabrizio; Muir Watt, Horatia

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201997

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: The Regulatory Function of Choice of Law Rules Applying to Contracts for Services in the European Union

Author(s): Clavel, Sandrine

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

3. The regulatory function of choice of
law rules applying to contracts for
services in the European Union
Sandrine Clavel

INTRODUCTION
Reconsidering the paradigm of the neutrality of international private law,1
already challenged by the increasing development of internationally manda-
tory rules through which States intend to impose public policy concerns in the
resolution of private disputes, recent scholarship has acknowledged that
choice of law rules may endorse a regulatory function.2 The assumption is that
the designation of the law applicable to the resolution of international private
litigation might not only be meant to offer private parties an outcome to their
dispute, but also to fulfil objectives of a public nature. For several decades
now, choice of law rules have been traducing legislators' concerns for the
implementation of substantive policies in private law.3 However, when it


1 Built on Savigny's teachings, the neutrality of international private law has
been pictured as the foundation of the conflict of laws in Europe during most of the
twentieth century (Mayer P. and Heuzé V. (2004) Droit international privé, Paris;
Montchrestien, n°68); However, for a survey of the `balance movement' between
public and private concerns in international private law (IPL), see: Muir Watt H. `Droit
public et droit privé dans les rapports internationaux (vers la publicisation des conflits
de lois ?)' (1997) 41 Arch. Phil. Droit, pp. 207­214.
2 Muir Watt H. `Globalisation des marchés et économie politique du droit inter-
national privé', (2003) 47 Arch. Phil. Droit, ...