Private International Law

This organization works on creating international conventions in a variety of areas of law, including commercial and family law. It has a number of specialized sections, related to its various Conventions (Can also be found through the "Specialized Sections" link on the homepage):

The focus of this organization is helping to facilitate international trade by harmonizing laws. To this end, it does work in various areas of international commerce, indlusing sale of goods, payment, and transportation; bankruptcy; and arbitration. It maintains a guide (in PDF format) to the organization that more fully describes its origins, organization, and work. It also maintains extensive documentation on its site that extends back to pre-establishment archives, including:

Most private international law cases are held in the national courts of one of the parties involved in the case. Private individuals generally do not have access to international courts, which generally hear cases between countries.  

There are a few regional courts and arbitration bodies which hear the cases of private individuals in some circumstances. These courts often apply a hybrid of the domestic law of the country involved and some form of international law. A few of these courts are listed below.

Africa

European Union

Council of Europe