Dépeçage

Conflict of laws
Preliminary matters
Characterisation  · Incidental question
Renvoi  · Choice of law
Conflict of laws in the U.S.
Public policy  · Hague Conference
Definitional elements
State  · Jurisdiction  · Procedure
Forum non conveniens  · Lex causae
Lex fori  · Forum shopping
Lis alibi pendens
Connecting factors
Domicile  · Lex domicilii
Habitual residence
Nationality  · Lex patriae
Lex loci arbitri  · Lex situs
Lex loci contractus
Lex loci delicti commissi  · Lex loci actus
Lex loci solutionis  · Proper law
Lex loci celebrationis
Choice of law clause  · Dépeçage
Forum selection clause
Substantive legal areas
Status  · Capacity  · Contract  · Tort
Marriage  · Nullity  · Divorce
Get divorce  · Talaq divorce
Property  · Succession
Trusts
Enforcement
Enforcement of foreign judgments
Mareva injunctions  · Anti-suit injunctions

In law, dépeçage refers to the concept in the conflict of laws whereby different issues within a particular case may be governed by the laws of different states. In common law countries dépeçage is usually used to refer to a single contract which provides that different parts of the contract shall be governed by different laws.

The concept originated in civil law countries, but has also been adopted in common law countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland pursuant to the Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Article 3(1)).

In practice, it is relatively rare for a contract to have more than one expressly chosen governing law. However, there are two examples where this may occur:

• In derivatives transactions governed by ISDA standard documentation, it is not uncommon for the ISDA Master Agreement to be governed by the laws of New York state, and for the credit support annexe to be governed by English law. This is because the provisions of English law relating to title transfer under the credit support annexe are thought to be more favourable to the secured party than New York law under the equivalent credit support annexe published by ISDA. In reality however, although the annex is described as forming part of the same agreement as the Master Agreement, physically as well as conceptually, they are really two separate documents.
• In ship financing transactions, it is quite common for a statutory ship mortgage to be taken over the vessel which will be governed by the laws of the state in which the ship is registered (which will often be an Offshore Financial Centre or jurisdiction which provides for flags of convenience), however, such mortgages are usually supplemented by a separate deed of covenants, and these will normally be governed by the law which governs the primary financial documentation.

Etymology

The term comes from the French word, dépeçage, meaning dismemberment, which is in turn derived from the verb, dépecer, meaning to carve up or to analyze in minute detail.

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