Modern views of freedom of contract recognise that the principle of party autonomy has a number of restrictions, such as the doctrines of public policy [ordre public], of good faith [bona fides], evasion of law [fraude a la loi], and mandatory rules [with various interchangeable expressions such as lois de police, lois d'application immediate, lois d'application imperative, loi d'application necessaire, lois d'application directe]. The concept of mandatory rules is regarded as one of the key concepts in post-war private international law, existing in various legal systems, and also in some regional and international conventions, thus influencing the functioning of conflict of laws rules. It has become in recent years one of the most debated topics, particularly in continental private international law, with no agreed criteria which identify with any precision the rules which qualify for such categorisation. Dr Ebrahimi's new work is a comprehensive study of the concept, function and...