The substantive validity of jurisdiction agreements - a question of their 'nature'?

Agreements between private parties designating a court to resolve their future disputes have been described as 'the most important jurisdictional device to have emerged in the twentieth century' (Hartley, 2005). While their juridical nature in English, French and German legal traditions is well understood, from the perspective of EU law, it is more enigmatic. This seminar will explore the nature of a jurisdiction agreement governed by EU law and the relevance of this question to the agreement's substantive validity. It will contend that the 'nature issue' has practical ramifications for an agreement's enforcement, independently of the question of remedy which has been the focus of much of the scholarly attention to date.

Dr Brooke Marshall is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law and Justice, University of New South Wales