Set-off Defences in International Commercial Arbitration: A Comparative Analysis

The book deals with set-off in international arbitration proceedings. In these proceedings, set-off is frequently the tool relied upon to resist a claim. At the same time, the legal intricacies make it difficult to use. The first part of the book provides a survey of set-off, including its definition, significance and functions. The second part offers a thorough comparative analysis of selected European laws of set-off and reveals the dramatic differences between them. The third and last part of the book deals with the problematic consequences of these differences and shows the limits and the inadequacy of the traditional choice-of-law doctrines. While demonstrating how to overcome the practical hurdles of the present situation, the third part also offers normative alternatives that should provide significant help in the adjudication of commercial disputes.

Christiana Fountoulakis is a Professor at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. She received her law degree and her PhD from the University of Basel, Switzerland. From 2004 to 2009, she was an Assistant Professor at the same university and a Scholar in Residence with a US law firm in 2007. In 2009-2010 she was a Visiting Professor at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies in London. Her main fields of interest include Private and Comparative Private Law, International Business Trade Law as well as International Commercial Arbitration. Professor Fountoulakis regularly serves as a legal expert in international commercial disputes.