Legal environment of international affairs

As a result of globalization, those involved in international activities are confronted with a diversity of legal systems. It is therefore important that these players, both public (States and international organizations) and private (companies), familiarize themselves with the main features of the major legal systems (common law, Romano-Germanic, Muslim law), as defined and described by the great jurist René David, so as to better anticipate the divergences between different national laws.

Furthermore, to secure and facilitate international trade relations, States and private players have developed a Lex mercatoria through instruments such as :

• bilateral and multilateral agreements between states ;

• the drafting of uniform laws (Unidroit);

• soft law and the codifications proposed by private bodies such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the most widely used of which are the Incoterms and the rules and customs governing documentary credit and autonomous guarantees.