European private international law - selected issues: conflict of laws regarding contractual obligations in the Rome Convention and Rome I Regulation

European Private International Law - Selected Issues: Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations in the Rome Convention and the Rome I Regulation Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to compare the two currently most important regulations concerning unification of the conflict of laws rules for contractual obligations in the EU - The Rome Convention and the Rome I Regulation. The former had since 1. July 2006 replaced the Czech Private International Law Act 1963 before being itself replaced by the latter, starting from 18. December 2009. With regard to non-retroactivity, both regulations will be in practice used alongside one another for a while, including the old Czech Private International Law Act 1963, but only in areas outside the material scope of both the Rome Convention and the Rome I Regulation. The thesis deals with major aspects of both regulations connected with choice of law, limitations thereof, and rules in the absence of a choice of law. Current conflict-of- laws rules rest on four main principles: 1) autonomy of the parties to choose the applicable law; 2) a unified system of conflict rules in the absence of a choice of law; 3) limitations for the protection of the weaker party or public policy; 4) ECJ's power of binding interpretations of both regulations to ensure uniform application. The..