Myth of Mess? International Choice of Law in Action (doi:10.7910/DVN/I4X484)

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Myth of Mess? International Choice of Law in Action

doi:10.7910/DVN/I4X484

Harvard Dataverse

2009-07-20

1

Christopher Whytock, 2009, "Myth of Mess? International Choice of Law in Action", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/I4X484, Harvard Dataverse, V1, UNF:3:UweNiTzUD61wygZG7BRe5w== [fileUNF]

Myth of Mess? International Choice of Law in Action

doi:10.7910/DVN/I4X484

Christopher Whytock

Harvard Dataverse

NYU Law Review

2009-06-11

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/I4X484

<p>Choice of law is a mess—or so it is said. According to conventional wisdom, choice-of-law doctrine does not significantly influence judges’ choice-of-law decisions. Instead, these decisions are primarily motivated by biases in favor of domestic over foreign law, domestic over foreign litigants, and plaintiffs over defendants. They are also highly unpredictable. </p> <br /> <p>This Article argues that these “mess” claims do not accurately describe at least one domain of choice of law—intern ational choice of law—and it demonstrates what is at stake in this debate for global governance. This Article uses statistical analysis of an original dataset of published international choice-of-law decisions by U.S. district courts in tort cases to present evidence that choice-of-law doctrine indeed influences these decisions; that these decisions are not biased in favor of domestic law, domestic litigants, or plaintiffs; and that they are actually quite predictable. The mess claims, it turns out, may be myths—at least in transnational tort cases. </p> <br /> <p>Lastly, the Article explains why these findings are encouraging from a global-governance perspective, and why they might plausibly extend to unpublished international choice-of-law decisions and domestic choice-of-law decisions. The Article’s findings suggest that the conventional wisdom exaggerates what is wrong with choice of law and implicitly underestimates its contributions to global governance.</p>

The data are provided solely for use in replicating the findings in Christopher A. Whytock, Myth of Mess? International Choice of Law in Action, 84 New York University Law Review (forthcoming June 2009), and are not to be distributed or used for any other purpose without the author’s prior written consent.

Christopher A. Whytock Associate Professor of Law University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law 332 South 1400 East Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0730 Phone: 801-581-6034 Email: whytockc@law.utah.edu

This dataset is made available with limited information on how it can be used. You may wish to communicate with the Contact(s) specified before use.

84 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 719 (June 2009)

84 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 719 (June 2009)

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