Is "forum-shopping" possible?

Question

Forum-shopping is commonly defined as a case when a person who takes the initiative of bringing a court action may be tempted to choose his court on the basis of the law applied there.

Basically the party chooses the applicable law not because it is the most appropriate, but because it is the most favourable.

I can easilly understand this when we are facing an international contract between two parties based on different jurisdiction. In fact, it is a common practice that the parties choose a "neutral" place.

But is this possible when both parties are based on the same country and choose the law of another country as applicable law? E.g can two german companies agree (in contract) that the agreement is governed by the laws of France or Switzerland and that in case of dispute the courts of such countries shall have exclusive jurisdiction?

Answer 1

can two german companies agree (in contract) that the agreement is governed by the laws of France or Switzerland and that in case of dispute the courts of such countries shall have exclusive jurisdiction?

Yes and no. They can write that in their contract, however, unless the contract has some connection with France or Switzerland then it is likely that the courts of these countries would refuse to hear their dispute. This would leave them to resolve their dispute in a German court which would probably decide that German law applies.

Private parties cannot dictate to governments how they will be treated under the law.

Forum shopping is a thing but it generally applies to which sub-national jurisdiction to bring a suit in. Parties that contract internationally for matters that are worth litigating are generally careful to be clear on which law applies and why.