Party Autonomy in International Property Law - Peace Palace Library

A. General Aspects of Party Autonomy
mutual relationship. 30 On the one hand, this meets the practical requirements
of modern legal transactions; on the other hand, it is an attempt to
overcome the mainly academic problem of conflit mobile. 31
The Dutch Property Law (Conflict of Laws) Act has followed this development
and includes six provisions, scattered over the Act, that provide for
the possibility of choosing which law shall be applicable to the proprietary
rights regime in the legal relationship between the parties. Such a choice
of law will usually be based on practical considerations. For example,
Article 13 paragraph 2 of the Act provides that Dutch companies whose
stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange may stipulate that the
transfer of these ‘American shares’ shall be governed by the law of the
federal state of New York. It reads as follows:
‘In derogation from paragraph 1, where, in order to promote the
marketability of registered shares in a Dutch public limited liability
company on a regulated foreign stock exchange, such shares are issued
in a form customary in the state of establishment of that stock
exchange, the issuing company may provide that the proprietary rights
regime of the shares will be determined by the law of the state of
establishment of the relevant stock exchange or the law of the state
in which, with the consent of the relevant stock exchange, deliveries
and other proprietary juridical acts regarding the shares may or must
be performed.’ 32
30
See Flessner 2010 (note 23).
31
According to Dutch law, most of the foreign proprietary rights will be recognised.
See Van der Weide 2006, Chapter 4.
32
In its original Dutch version, Article 13 paragraph 2 of the Dutch Property
Law (Conflict of Laws) Act (Article 10:138 paragraph 2 Civil Code) reads as
follows: ‘In afwijking van het eerste lid kan met betrekking tot aandelen op
naam in een Nederlandse naamloze vennootschap waaraan, ter bevordering
van de verhandelbaarheid aan een gereglementeerde buitenlandse effectenbeurs
een in de staat van vestiging van de beurs gebruikelijke vorm is gegeven,
door de uitgevende vennootschap worden bepaald dat het goederenrechtelijke
regime wordt beheerst door het recht van de staat van vestiging van de betrokken
beurs dan wel het recht van de staat waarin met instemming van de
betrokken beurs leveringen en andere goederenrechtelijke rechtshandelingen
betreffende de aandelen kunnen of moeten worden verricht.’
50
Jeroen van der Weide
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