Abstract
LL.M. (International Commercial Law)
The resolution of jurisdictional conflicts is one of the main functions of private international
law. It provided rules to be applied when the courts of more than one country are seized of
the same case in international litigation. In determining what that rule should be, regard
must be had to the interest of all the relevant entities, namely, the parties to international
cases and the courts dealing with such cases. The need to strike a balance is even more
urgent in international commercial litigation where the outcome of the case normally has
significant economic consequences.
From this background, a study has been conducted of two major private international law
regimes regarding their approaches to the resolution of jurisdictional conflicts, namely, the
common‐law and the European Union (EU). This study is an inquiry into the suitability of
each approach in the resolution of jurisdictional conflicts in international commercial cases.
It is the view of the present author that each approach has advantages and disadvantages.
The common‐law through the doctrine of forum non conveniens shows a greater ability to
prevent forum shopping and to prevent injustices in specific cases. However, it is highly
unpredictable. On the other hand, the EU approach through the lis pendens rule succeeds in
ensuring predictability and certainty in the resolution of jurisdictional conflicts which is very
crucial in international commercial litigation. However, its rigidity and inflexibility leads to
the determination of international commercial cases by courts that are ill‐suited, thereby
giving some room for forum shopping.
It is therefore recommended that the two approaches should learn from each other so that
their handling of international commercial cases is in line with the special nature of
international commercial litigation. The common‐law approach should be made more
predictable and the EU approach should allow the courts in the EU to determine which court
is best suited to deal with an international commercial case.