New International Commercial Courts

Over the past two decades, various jurisdictions around the world have created new specialised domestic courts to manage international commercial disputes. Located in the Gulf region (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar), in Asia (Singapore, China, Kazakhstan) and in Europe (Germany, France, the Netherlands), these courts enrich the current landscape of the resolution of international commercial disputes. In particular, they present themselves as alternatives to litigation before ordinary courts, on the one hand, and to international commercial arbitration on the other.

This book studies international commercial courts from a comparative perspective through various strands of inquiry. First, it offers a detailed analysis of the reasons for the creation of these courts and examines their jurisdictional, institutional and procedural features, answering questions such as: what are the disputes that international commercial courts hear? Who sits on the bench of these courts and who may argue cases? How do international commercial courts conduct their proceedings, and how different are the proceedings within ordinary courts? Second, to complement the first line of inquiry, the book scrutinises the motivations and/or constraints of jurisdictions that have decided against launching their own versions of ‘international commercial courts’. Finally, and most crucially, it systematically reviews the impact and the success of international commercial courts, addressing questions such as: what are the metrics of success, and is success wholly dependent on size of the docket? What role do the courts play in international commercial dispute resolution? What contributions can we expect from them in the future? Are these courts necessary? In addressing these questions, this text advances our understanding of the role of international commercial courts in the resolution of cross-border disputes.

About the Editors
Man Yip is a Professor of Law, Associate Dean (Faculty Matters & Research) and the V3 Group Professor in Family Entrepreneurship at the Yong Pung How School of Law at Singapore Management University. She graduated with an LLB from the National University of Singapore and obtained her BCL from the University of Oxford, where she was in residence at Keble College. Her research has been cited by the Singapore Court of Appeal, the Singapore High Court and the High Court of England and Wales.

Giesela Rühl is a Professor of Law at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. She is a member of the European Law Institute, the International Academy of Comparative Law and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. She serves as the Secretary General of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL). Her research has received awards from the Max Planck Society, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the American Society of International Law.

List of Rapporteurs

With a General Report by Man Yip (Singapore Management University, Singapore) and Giesela Rühl (Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany), and Special Reports by Michael Byrne (Dubai International Financial Centre Courts, Dubai), Martin Bernet (Bernet Arbitration/Dispute Management, Switzerland), Pamela Bookman (Fordham University School of Law, United States), Tatiana Cardoso Squeff (Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil), Gustavo Cerqueira (University of Côte d'Azur, France), Edyta Figura-Góralczyk (Cracow University of Economics, Poland), David Foxton (High Court of England and Wales, United Kingdom), Zhengxin Huo (China University of Political Science and Law, People’s Republic of China), Saloni Khanderia (OP Jindal Global University, India), Kwan Ho Lau (Singapore Management University, Singapore), Seipati Lepele (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Claudia Lima Marques (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), Chien-Chung Lin (National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan), Michele Angelo Lupoi (University of Bologna, Italy), María Blanca Noodt Taquela (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina), Peter Nørgaard (Danish Ministry of Justice, Denmark), Maria Panezi (University of New Brunswick, Canada), Thomas Riehm (University of Passau, Germany), Clement Salung Petersen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Elsabe Schoeman (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Florian Scholz-Berger (University of Vienna, Austria), S.I. Strong (Emory University School of Law, United States), Hoang Thao Anh (Hue University, Vietnam), Willem Theus (KU Leuven, Belgium), Vu Thi Huong (Hue University, Vietnam),  Quirin Thomas (University of Passau, Germany), Geert Van Calster (KU Leuven, Belgium) and Marlene Wethmar-Lemmer (University of South Africa).