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[Jonathan Mitchell <website3 AT jonathanmitchell.info>]

Proposed clause 8g includes this:
"Šthis Licence shall be governed by English law and the parties irrevocably
submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts."

There are three legal systems and three jurisdictions in the UK. If I was
going to tie myself to a contract providing for the law and exclusive
jurisdiction of another country I'd want it at least to be somewhere warm!

There are three solutions:
1 sub-editions for Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England/Wales;
2 a UK edition, in which the following would be substituted in clause 8g:
"Šthis Licence shall be governed by the law of the jurisdiction in which the
licensor is domiciled in terms of Part V of the Civil Jurisdiction and
Judgments Act 1982 and the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive
jurisdiction of that jurisdiction." (for up to date version of Part V see
http://www.jonathanmitchell.info/section41.html ); or
3 no choice of law provision, leaving consequences to be governed
substantially by the 1982 Act, the Rome Convention, and the Private
International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995 (as they are by the
current international draft).

Any solution requires different language elsewhere, e.g. 5a ii and 8h, but
what that language might be would depend on the choice. My preference is for
1; I am not attracted by an exclusive jurisdiction clause such as 2 which
does not state which jurisdiction is exclusive, and (standing the proposals
of, and uncertainty surrounding, the Rome II proposals) 3 is an undesirable
solution though still better for us than the current draft.

If however the project were to proceed on the current draft, it should be
renamed as 'England and Wales', and Scottish/Northern Irish users pointed
back to the international version.

I suggest a policy decision be taken on this issue before detailed drafting.

Jonathan
--
Jonathan Mitchell QC

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