Tacit Choice of Law in the Metaverse: What Law Applies?
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This research discusses the reality of the metaverse with emphasis placed on the need for a rule of law for certain activities within it that is related to Private International Law. This research observes what the metaverse is, its prevalent structure and the recent dialectics on the place of international law as a comprehensive and much needed legal regime within its system. This article utilises a normative legal research methodology and uses qualitative data such as legal theories and related research to arrives at a certain conclusion on the place of Private International Law in the Metaverse. The first part of this research elaborates on the relationship between the Metaverse and Law and the importance of a clear rule of law in the Metaverse. The second part provides an overview of Private International Law in regards to the notions that exist within it to determine a prescriptive jurisdiction. The third section discusses tacit choice of law as an alternative answer to the current uncertainty in the commercial world of the Metaverse. While the last part talks about the incorporation of metaverse regulations in the domestic and regional scenes. The article finds that the need for a clear legal framework not only in regards to choice of law but also for all aspects of the Metaverse is direly needed. While tacit choice can provide legal certainty in the world of commercial contracts, a comprehensive cybersecurity regime is needed for a Metaverse that is truly based in rule of law.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All writings published in this journal are personal views of the authors and do not represent the views of this journal and the author's affiliated institutions. Author(s) retain copyrights under the licence of Creative Commons 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).Â
References
Collier, J.G. Conflict of Laws. 3rd ed. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Damar, Muhammet. “Metaverse Shape of Your Life for Future: A Bibliometric Snapshot.†Journal of Metaverse 1, no. 1 (2022): 1–8. https://journalmetaverse.org/index.php/jm/article/view/article1.
Gama, Lauro. “Tacit Choice of Law in the Hague Principles.†Uniform Law Review 22, no. 2 (2017): 336–50. https://doi.org/10.1093/ulr/unx022.
———. “Tacit Choice of the Law Governing the Contract.†Centro de Estudios de Derecho, EconomÃa y PolÃtica, n.d.
Garon, John M. “Legal Implications Of a Ubiquitous Metaverse.†SSRN, 2019, 1–63. https://doi.org/10.31826/9781463236984-toc.
Garon, Jon M. “Playing in the Virtual Arena: Avatars, Publicity and Identity Reconceptualized through Virtual Worlds and Computer Games.†Chapman Law Review 11, no. 3 (2011): 466–520. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1334950.
Gregory Lastowkat, F., and Dan Huntert. “The Laws of the Virtual Worlds.†Popular Culture and Law 92, no. 1 (2017): 363–435. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315089645-13.
Juenger, Friedrich K. “Marital Property and the Conflict of Laws: A Tale of Two Countries.†Columbia Law Review 81, no. 5 (1981): 1061–79.
Lee, Lik-Hang, Tristan Braud, Pengyuan Zhou, Lin Wang, Dianlei Xu, Zijun Lin, Abhishek Kumar, Carlos Bermejo, and Pan Hui. “All One Needs to Know about Metaverse: A Complete Survey on Technological Singularity, Virtual Ecosystem, and Research Agenda†14, no. 8 (2021): 1–66. http://arxiv.org/abs/2110.05352.
Leenes, Ronald. “Privacy in the Metaverse: Regulating a Complex Social Construct in a Virtual World.†In The Future of Identity in the Information Society, 262:95–112. IFIP International Summer School on the Future of Identity in the Information Society, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79026-8_7.
Liu, Ian. “Is the Metaverse above the Law?†Deacons, 2022. https://www.deacons.com/2022/06/07/is-the-metaverse-above-the-law/.
Loon, Hans Van. “Hague Conference on Private International Law.†Hague Justice Journal 2, no. 2 (2007): 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0165070X00014303.
Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. “Developments with Respect to PIL Implications of the Digital Economy,†2022.
Suzor, Nicolas. “The Role of the Rule of Law in Virtual Communities.†Berkeley Technology Law Journal 25, no. 4 (2010): 1817–86.
Woon, Alexander. “The Metaverse Is Not above Real-World Law.†The Straits Time, 2022. https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-metaverse-is-not-above-real-world-law.