Books in the Studien zum ausländischen und internationalen Privatrecht series

Jan Jakob Bornheim analyses the hypothesis about the inherent efficiency of common law compared to civil law. He examines key commercial property law concepts (i.e., ownership and security interests in relation to movables) and determines the characteristics of each system with regard to these. Using the Canadian experience as a model, he then takes a close look at how the two legal systems interact, arguing that efficient interaction can take place on both vertical and horizontal planes. On the vertical plane, property law would be able to interact with higher-level law (e.g., federal law in a federal state); on the horizontal plane, property laws of different jurisdictions could interact through the conflict of laws. The author also contends that equitable property rights, including constructive trusts as a response to unjust enrichment, should be governed by property law choice-of-law rules.

After the Vietnamese War, civil relations with foreign elements have increased and, consequently, private international law has gained some importance in Vietnam. However, both the relevant legal provisions and the practice of the courts in Vietnam are insufficient. Trinh Nguyen studies Vietnamese private international law in light of European developments. She focuses in particular on the general issues, contracts and torts. She describes and assesses the currently effective provisions of Vietnamese law and the corresponding judicial practice of the courts. Together with the knowledge of European private international law, with the main emphasis on the Rome I and Rome II Regulation, she makes use of comparative law to propose future developments for Vietnam based on the critical evaluation of the western doctrine.