Modularity in Cross-Border Insolvency

This Article proposes a framework for thinking about the design structure of the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency. The Model Law has been successful by many metrics; however, it has faced various implementation challenges. As leading scholar Professor Jay Westbrook has noted, thinking about these problems requires thinking about the Model Law as a system. To understand the system, it is necessary to understand its architecture, and I argue that this architecture is best understood as reflecting a modular design structure, i.e., one that divides complex systems into a hierarchical system of self-contained components.

Modularity has provided insights into other areas of law, such as contract and property doctrine, and it can provide important insights to both explain the Model Law and to provide guidance on its most problematic areas.