Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:15:32.842Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Law as a Market Standard: Voluntary Unification in Contract and Company Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

Gary Low
Affiliation:
Lazada Singapore and RedMart
Get access

Summary

Why a need should exist for hundreds of different contract laws capable of regulating a sale of goods is far from obvious. Attempts have been made to cut back and tackle the incongruities between different legal regimes. This contribution offers a conceptual framework for thinking about the variety of private laws, the need for unification, and ways to achieve it. The economics of network effects explain why standardization is often beneficial and how it can be accomplished—or missed. This chapter suggests predictions about the scope of market standardization in two particularly important areas, contract law and company law. One policy implication is that international standardization does not depend on crafting uniform law. The laws of national jurisdictions can be suitable as market standards for cross-border transactions. This adds a new perspective to the continuing debate about regulatory competition between jurisdictions: The winners of the race are decided as much by network effects as by differences in the substantive quality of their laws. Better law standardization can be a possible and desirable outcome of jurisdictional competition. It deserves careful consideration whether enacting international uniform law promises a significant improvement over jurisdictional competition that justifies the cost.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×