Conflicting Laws in a Common Market? The NAFTA Experiment

NAFTA represents an experimental common market, in which no measures have been taken, at the North American level, to resolve legal diversity and conflicts of laws and jurisdiction. The obvious contrast is with the European Union, with its pan-European institutions and formal program of legal unification. This Article defends the underlying philosophy of NAFTA, as appropriate for North America. There has also been substantial adaptation of the national laws of the NAFTA countries, which indicates that a process of informal harmonization is adequate for common market needs.