Journal Article: A principled conflict of laws characterisation of fraud in letters of credit by Wong Weitao

CML congratulates Wong Weitao on the publication of his article, “A principled conflict of laws characterisation of fraud in letters of credit” in Journal of Private International Law. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441048.2023.2294611

His article examines how the issue of fraud in letters of credit (which constitutes a critical exception to the autonomy principle) should be characterised in a conflict of laws analysis; and consequently, which law should apply to determine if fraud has been established. It argues that the fraud issue has thus far been incorrectly subsumed within the letter of credit contract, rather than being correctly characterised as a separate and independent issue. On the basis of fundamental conflict of laws principles and policies, this article advocates that the fraud issue should be characterised separately as a tortious/delictual issue. It then discusses how some of the difficulties of such a conflicts characterisation may be adequately addressed.

Keywords: Letters of credit, documentary credits, trade finance law, conflict of laws, characterisation, choice of law, fraud exception

Read the article in JPIL here.

The working paper for this article can be found here: