화환신용장의 중간은행의 법률관계와 독립적 은행보증의 제2의 은행의 법률관계에 대한 준거법

Documentary letters of credit and independent bank guarantees have different roles in banking practices in that the former is issued for payment in the sale of goods and the latter is issued for securing the performance of contractual obligations. However, they share common characteristics: they are independent from the underlying contracts and banks other than the issuing bank are involved in the transaction. While international rules and conventions have been made, these rules and conventions do not cover all of the legal issues concerning the letter of credit and the bank guarantee. For this reason, it is important to determine which country's law will be applied to the documentary letter of credit and the independent bank guarantee. This article discusses the law applicable to the relationships of an intermediary bank (confirming bank and negotiating bank) in the documentary letter of credit and the relationships of a second bank in the independent bank guarantee. The discussion is divided into three parts: characterizing relationships, the parties’ autonomy in designating the governing law, and designating the governing law under the Private International Act. The pivotal question, inter alia, is whether the principle of independence shall remain or if it shall be given away for consistent application of law (such as in England cases). Consequently, I am of the opinion that the governing law shall be determined independently from other relationships.