Law Commons^™

Reconciling Forum-Selection And Choice-Of-Law Clauses, Kevin M. Clermont

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In a recent article, Professor Tanya Monestier argued that courts should change their ways so as to apply lex fori to all questions involving forum-selection clauses. I agree that lex fori governs matters of enforceability, but I disagree as to matters of interpretation. On the basis of case law and policy arguments, I argue that the law chosen by the contract should govern interpretation of the forum-selection clause.

Governing Law On Forum-Selection Agreements, Kevin M. Clermont

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The task of determining which law governs a contractual choice-of-forum clause is an enigma to courts. The key to its solution lies at the very heart of the subject, where one encounters its most celebrated riddle: Which law governs when the parties have also agreed to a choice-of-law clause-that is, does a court first test the forum-selection clause under the law of the seised forum, or does one first look at the parties' choice of law to apply the chosen law to the forum-selection clause?

This chicken-or-egg mystery throws courts into contortions. Prior commentators have opted for the chosen law. …