Contratos internacionales en Latinoamérica: historia de un lento avance hacia la aceptación de la autonomía de la voluntad en la elección de la ley
Autor | María Ignacia Vial Undurraga |
Cargo | Universidad de los Andes, Santiago de Chile, Chile; Professor |
Páginas | 241-276 |
Revista de deRecho PRivado, issn: 0123-4366, e-issn: 2346-2442, n.º 38, 2020, 241-27 6
International Contracts
in Latin America: History
of a Slow Pace towards the
Acceptance of Party Autonomy
in Choice of Law*
❱ maRía igna cia vial unduRR aga
**
abstract. The right of the parties to choose the law to govern international con-
tracts, has been historically denied in Latin America due to the principle of terri-
toriality of laws that has imbued national conict provisions. Several regional and
national attempts to authorize party autonomy have been disregarded on the grounds
of protecting national sovereignty. Some jurisdictions have recently amended their
laws to accept it. This acceptance has not meant a departure from their legal tradi-
tion, but an enhancement of the principle of contractual freedom, that has always
pervaded their contract rules.
Keywords: Choice of Law Clauses, Party Autonomy, Latin American Private Inter-
national Law, Territorialism, Contractual Freedom.
Contratos internacionales en Latinoamérica: historia
de un lento avance hacia la aceptación de la autonomía
de la voluntad en la elección de la ley
resumen. El derecho de las partes a elegir la ley que gobierna sus contratos interna-
cionales ha sido históricamente denegado en Latinoamérica, debido al principio de
* Fecha de recepción: 1 de febrero de 2019. Fecha de acceptación: 7 de octubre de 2019.
Para citar el artículo: vial undurraGa, M. I., “International Contracts in Latin America: An
Historical Slow Pace towards the Acceptance of Party Autonomy in Choice of Law”, Revista de
Derecho Privado, Universidad Externado de Colombia, n.º 38, enero-julio 2020, 241-276, doi:
10.18601/01234366.n38.09.
** Universidad de los Andes, Santiago de Chile, Chile; Professor. PhD in Laws, King’s College Lon-
don, London, United Kingdom. Contacto: mivial@uandes.cl Orcid: 0000-0003-2312-6143.
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maR í a ign a c i a via l und u R R a g a
Revista de deRecho PRivado, issn: 0123-4366, e-issn: 2346-2442, n.º 38, 2020, 241-276
territorialidad de la ley. Varios proyectos regionales y nacionales para autorizar la
autonomía de la voluntad han sido desechados argumentando la necesidad de prote-
ger la soberanía nacional. Recientemente, algunos países han modicado sus leyes
para aceptar esta autonomía. Esta modicación no les ha apartado de su tradición
jurídica, sino que ha perfeccionado el principio de libertad contractual, que históri-
camente ha inspirado su derecho contractual.
Palabras clave: cláusulas de elección de la ley, autonomía de la voluntad, derecho
internacional privado latinoamericano, territorialismo, libertad contractual.
summary. Introduction. i. The concept and justication of party autonomy. ii. The
early Latin American domestic conict rules on contracts and party autonomy.
iii. The Latin American treaties on contracts and party autonomy. iv. The statutory
acceptance of party autonomy in the Latin American domestic conict rules on con-
tracts. Conclusions. References.
Introduction
The possibility of recognising the validity of choice of law clauses in international
contracts, namely, of party autonomy, has been widely discussed in Latin America
for more than 130 years. It has, however, only been recently statutorily sanctioned
in the domestic conict rules of some Latin American countries: Peru (1984), Cuba
(1987), Mexico (1988), Guatemala (1989), Panama (2014), Argentina (2014), Do-
minican Republic (2014) and Paraguay (2015)1. Other Latin American countries ei-
ther reject it –this is the case in Brazil and Uruguay2– or, still have no clear rules in
respect of it, as happens in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. This longstanding
active or passive resistance towards the acceptance of party autonomy in interna-
tional contracts has historical grounds, which merit to be analysed in order to throw
light on the possible ways to surmount them.
Specically, this paper intends to analyse the principles that inspire the Latin
American conict rules on contracts in order to assess if they can be reconciled with
the acceptance of the principle of party autonomy. It is structured in four sections.
The rst section provides a denition and brief justication of party autonomy in the
conict of laws. The second and third sections analyse the genesis of Latin American
the F.D and Federal Matters (1988), art. 31 Guatemalan Decree 2-89, art. 29 Venezuelan Private
International Law Act (Pila), art. 77 Panamanian Code of Private International Law (cPil), art. 58
Dominican Republic Pila, art. 4 Paraguayan Law 5393, art. 2651 Argentinian Civil and Commercial
Code.
2 basedow, J., The Law of Open Societies - Private Ordering and Public Regulations in the Conict
of Laws, The Hague, Brill Nijhoff, 2015, 117-120.
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Revista de deRecho PRivado, issn: 0123-4366, e-issn: 2346-2442, n.º 38, 2020, 241-27 6
conict rules on contracts and their acceptance of autonomy. And the fourth section,
examines the change of paradigm that led to the statutory acceptance of autonomy
in some Latin American jurisdictions, in order to advocate for its acceptance in the
remaining Latin American jurisdictions.
This acceptance of autonomy in all Latin American jurisdictions is urgently
needed, since choice of law clauses are commonly included in international contracts
connected to these jurisdictions and some national courts vacillate as to upholding
them. Nowadays, there is signicant juridical uncertainty about the efcacy of these
choices in some Latin American countries. Additional techniques are necessary to
secure their acceptance by courts; such as the choice of a forum where autonomy
is accepted, or the submission of the case to arbitration. The efcacy of these tech-
niques are, however, relative since the choice of forum might be challenged and not
upheld by courts, or the arbitral award might be denied enforcement in a given Latin
American jurisdiction. Thus, the universal acceptance of autonomy in cases submit-
ted to judicial adjudication in Latin America would eradicate this uncertainty and
help to harmonize conict rules on contracts with respect to most countries.
The acceptance of autonomy is also needed to minimize the legal uncertainty
caused by the diversity of conict rules on contracts between Latin American juris-
dictions. Hence, some jurisdictions submit the contract primarily to the law chosen
by the parties, others to the law of the place of making of the contract3, others to
either the place of performance, or that of making of the contract4 and others to the
place of performance determined by irrebuttable presumptions5. This diversity of
conict rules makes it difcult to predict the governing law of contracts connected to
these jurisdictions. It also increases legal risks and costs for the parties, since courts
might apply to a contract an unforeseen law, or a law whose proof demands specia-
lized and costly legal assistance. The consolidation of autonomy would guarantee
that the chosen law governs the contract in any of these jurisdictions. It would also
harmonize national conict rules with rules on arbitration, which permit upholding
choice of law clauses6.
I. The concept and justication of party autonomy
Party autonomy in the conict of laws of contracts is understood to mean the right
of the parties to choose the governing law of a contract7. That is, their power to de-
3 Art. 9 Brazilian Introductory Law to the CC.
5 Art. 2399 Uruguayan CC.
6 vial, M. I., “Party Autonomy in Latin America: A Pending Task”, in Revista Chilena de Derecho,
Ponticia Universidad Católica de Chile, n.° 45-2, 2018, 458-459.
7 scoles, e.; Hay, P.; borcHers, P. and symeonides, s., Conict of Laws, 4th Ed., St. Paul, Minnesota,
Thomson West, 2004, 948; Kassis, a., Le nouveau droit européen des contrats internationaux, Paris,
lGdJ, 1993, 187.
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