[Hague-jur-commercial-law] Press on The Hague Special Commission Meeting Dec1-9, 2003

[Michael Sondow]

Judith Sapp wrote:
> 
> The proposed treaty relates to all disputes arising from
> business-to-business contracts that contain exclusive choice of court
> clauses.

Well, that sounds clear enough (or does it?).

I seem to have missed part of the history of this thing, because I
clearly recall there being a general consensus last year that e-commerce
was too difficult to deal with at this time. Apparently the delegates
now think they can handle it. 

I think they're mistaken. Internet jurisdiction is a can of worms,
witness the conflicting judgments handed down from even courts in the
same country, not to mention different countries.

But what really concerns me is that there is still no definition of what
the term "business" excludes. This puts organizations like the ALA in
the position of not knowing when or where they will be subject to treaty
provisions that they may never have realized would be applied to them.

The Hague treaty is not going to work, even in the most restricted realm
it is designed for, much less in anything to do with the Internet. But
it is going to cause a lot of trouble, and a great deal of expense to
unsuspecting litigants. Of course, this is just what the lawyers who are
writing it want.

M. Sondow
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      "Lawyers come to think of administrative law and the 
    administrative process as significant and worthy of study
    only in those areas where private interests think it worth
    their while to demand protection. As a consequence lawyers 
    seeking for their clients elaborate procedural protection 
    modeled on the judicial process may, in an excess of 
    generalizing zeal, induce legislatures, administrative 
    agencies, and courts to extend such procedures into areas 
    where they are alien and inappropriate."

                   -- Jaffe & Nathanson, "Administrative Law"
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  International Congress of Independent Internet Users (ICIIU) 
                       iciiu@iciiu.org 
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