Already during the Middle Ages, merchants developed an informal legal system for their cross border business dealings; lex mercatoria was the name of the mercantile law used for international trade in those days.
Within the framework of a unique international research project, the Cologne based law professor Klaus Peter Berger is attempting to meet the legal challenges presented by globalisation in a similar manner. The open access online platform “TransLex” is a unique resource where the rules and principles of transnational commercial law, along with detailed comparative law materials from all over the world, are easily accessible for academics and practitioners around the globe – an online codification platform for transnational commercial law, the modern lex mercatoria. “TransLex” is operated by the Center for Transnational Law (CENTRAL) of which Berger is the founder and executive director. In a recently published book “The Creeping Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria”, Professor Berger describes the project and highlights its importance for global commerce and trade.
TransLex provides a systematic collection of all legal texts pertaining to transnational commercial law. The possibilities and the limitations of “private governance” are explained in it. TransLex provides a fascinating alternative to the application of domestic law for the business dealings of globally operating conglomerates.
TransLex, for example, provides the answer to the question whether a company can refuse delivery of goods or services in case of force majeure. These kinds of legal questions were relevant after 9-11, and the pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia last year. Almost every transnational supply agreement contains force majeure clauses. Despite this, there is ambiguity as to how these contract clauses are to be understood. With TransLex, the answer to this and other questions is only a mouseklick away.
Title:
The Creeping Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business,
ISBN: 978-90-411-3179-9
Internet:
http://www.trans-lex.org
http://www.central-koeln.de/
For queries contact:
Klaus Peter Berger,
kp.berger
uni-koeln.de