Justice Wille came to Rome to meet with jurists from 17 countries that participated in UNIDROIT’s International Programme for Law and Development.
“The UNIDROIT Principles are a point of reference where national laws cannot reach or do not provide concrete solutions,” said Eduard Derek Wille, Supreme High Court Justice of South Africa.
Justice Wille spoke with press agency Dire, focusing on the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) and on the value of its Principles of International Commercial Contracts. With experience on high-profile cases going back to the 1980s, Justice Wille came to Rome to meet jurists, state lawyers and legislative drafters, who participated in the courses organised by UNIDROIT, at its seat in via Panisperna, at Villa Aldobrandini, through 7 July. Justice Wille had participated in last year’s edition of the IPLD and returned this year to share his experience.
The International Programme for Law and Development is financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in this edition was attended by 22 jurists from 17 African countries. Wille spoke about his experience in Cape Town, South Africa and illustrated many cases where UNIDROIT’s instruments were useful to interpret national law in cases where national law was clear or would not solve a matter directly.
“Participants in this course should study the Institute’s Principles because often, in their work as lawyers or magistrates, they will find themselves in situations where national regulations won’t give enough answers”, says Justice Wille.
“Thus, if the Constitution allows for it, they will be able to refer to these precious Principles, that were developed over a long period of time; they will be able to use them to render decisions, and such choices will be assimilated into legal systems and will set precedents to be followed, as happened in South Africa, where they have become part of the legislation”.
Wille continued, “Our country has a magnificent Constitution, but, as we all know, applying it is another issue. Sections 232 and 233 of South Africa’s Constitution allow and even require judges to apply international principles in areas not regulated by domestic norms or where domestic norms are insufficient”. UNIDROIT’s instruments are available to everyone. “Even other African countries, such as Kenya, also provide for similar opportunities in their respective constitutions,” emphasised Wille. “My message to magistrates, lawyers, judges and legislative drafters who may encounter difficulties in their work, is that there are solutions: there is a bridge that allows you to cross dangerous waters, because you can apply the UNIDROIT Principles”.
Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.