Global Crises and Contract Remedies

The Global Crises and Contract Remedies Research Project

In current times, we have been witnessing more and more events (including the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of armed conflicts, and the subsequent imposition of international sanctions) that have disrupted contractual performance and global supply chains all around the globe. The simultaneous and systemic nature of the impact produced by these global crises on contractual performance has offered a unique opportunity to observe the dynamics of contractual relationships.
The Global Crises and Contract Remedies Research Project, directed by Professor Anna Veneziano and Professor Giacomo Rojas Elgueta, aims

to draft a map of contract remedies applicable to change of circumstances/supervening events in different jurisdictions, with the help of prominent national reporters. This will not be done following the traditional approach, limited to a comparison of contract remedies in different legal systems. Instead, following from the premise that each type of contract is underpinned by a distinct economic rationale, the methodological assumption of this project is that it is necessary to undertake a microsurgery approach conducive to a contract-specific analysis, rather than one focused on contract law’s general principles.

In other words, by adopting an empirical, “bottom-up” approach, which puts the different types of contracts under the microscope, the project’s objective is to verify:

For each type of contract, which clauses are most commonly adopted to regulate change of circumstances at a transnational level;

For each type of contract and in selected jurisdictions, which clauses are most commonly adopted to regulate change of circumstances at the domestic level and how they interact with the legal rules set out for that type of contract;

For each type of contract and in selected jurisdictions, what is the concrete application of the legal remedies (resulting from both contract clauses and municipal contract law) by both State courts and arbitral tribunals;

Global Crises and Contract Remedies

The Global Crises and Contract Remedies Research Project

In other words, by adopting an empirical, “bottom-up” approach, which puts the different types of contracts under the microscope, the project’s objective is to verify:

For each type of contract, which clauses are most commonly adopted to regulate change of circumstances at a transnational level;

For each type of contract and in selected jurisdictions, which clauses are most commonly adopted to regulate change of circumstances at the domestic level and how they interact with the legal rules set out for that type of contract;

For each type of contract and in selected jurisdictions, what is the concrete application of the legal remedies (resulting from both contract clauses and municipal contract law) by both State courts and arbitral tribunals;

The effectiveness of such legal remedies, as compared to those adopted by the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts

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