The legal phenomenon of lex sportiva in international sports law

---

The development of sports law is directly related to the nature of sports, whose legal relations must have uniformity and stability, achieved through regulation by special rules created by international and national sports organizations – lex sportiva. This paper is devoted to lex sportiva as one of the most important tools for regulating cross-border relations in the field of sports. The author examines the origin and legal nature of lex sportiva as well as its impact on national legislation in the field of sports. Moreover, the author elaborates on possible meanings of this notion: lex sportiva as a set of rules of self-regulation, as a set of decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as a legal principle, as a phenomenon of implementation, and as a criterion for determining the amount of compensation. The author discusses the use of lex sportiva by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the context of dispute resolution, since this court has formed an extensive judicial practice throughout its existence, which, together with the rules of national and international sports organizations, forms an important part of lex sportiva. In this regard, the author draws parallels with the related source of cross-border law – lex mercatoria, and also considers situations in which there are conflicts between lex sportiva and the norms of international law and rules of national legislation. In the field of sports, such legal conflicts are resolved by the principle of lex specialis derogat legi generali, according to which the rules of lex sportiva prevail over national law, providing a principle for the autonomy of sports. The first mention of the recognition of this principle is contained in the sources of law of the European Union. Finally, the author comes to the conclusion that the generally recognized two-dimensional understanding of lex sportiva as a doctrine and as a set of norms of self-regulation in sports is outdated, since it does not fully reveal the essence of the legal phenomenon, since it does not reflect all its properties which are manifested in the situations of legal regulation of relationships in the sports field. The exclusive role of lex sportiva is predicted to resolve international legal and organizational conflicts in the field of sports caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

About the author: Artem Bredikhin – Ph.D. Student, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Bredikhin A. (2020) Fenomen lex sportiva v mezhdunarodnom sportivnom prave [The legal phenomenon of lex sportiva in the international sports law]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, vol.10, no.4, pp.168–183.

References

Ablezgova O.V. (2008) Normy “lex mercatoria” v pravovom regulirovanii mezhdunarodnogo kommercheskogo oborota: Avtoref. diss. … kand. yurid. nauk [The norms of lex mercatoria in the legal regulation of the international commercial transactions: Abstract of a dissertation… candidate of legal science], Moscow. (In Russian).

Alekseev S.V. (2013) Mezhdunarodnoe sportivnoe pravo: uchebnik dlya vuzov [International sports law: textbook for higher education institutions], P.V.Krasheninnikov (ed.), Moscow: YuNITI-DANA. (In Russian).

Alekseev S.V., Gostev R.G. (2014) Sportivnoe pravo kak novaya otrasl’ prava, oblast’ yuridicheskoy nauki i uchebnaya distsiplina [Sports law as a new branch of law, field for legal science and academic discipline]. Vestnik Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Problemy vysshego obrazovaniya, no.3, pp.25–28. (In Russian).

Bredikhin A. (2019) Resheniya Sportivnogo arbitrazhnogo suda i Palaty FIFA po razresheniyu sporov, obladayushchie siloy pretsedenta (na primere trudovykh sporov v sfere futbola) [Decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber viewed as precedents (labor disputes cases in the field of football)]. Mezhdunarodnoe pravosudie, vol.9, no.3, pp.59–68. (In Russian).

Buy F., Marmayou J.-M., Poracchia D., Rizzo F. (2009) Droit du Sport: Manuel, Paris: LGDJ.

Casini L. (2011) The making of a Lex Sportiva by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. German Law Journal, vol.12, no.5, pp.1317–1340.

Chappelet J.-L. (2010) Autonomy of sport in Europe, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

Cordeiro-Moss G. (2014) International Commercial Contracts: Applicable Sources and Enforceability, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Donahue C. Jr. (2004) Medieval and early modern lex mercatoria: an attempt at the probation diabolica. Chicago Journal of International Law, vol.5, no.1, pp.21–37.

Duval A. (2013) Lex sportiva: a playground for transnational law. European Law Journal, vol.19, no.6, pp.822–842.

Gates S., Nygard H.M. (2013) Soft power at home and abroad: Sport diplomacy, politics and peace-building. International Area Studies Review, vol.16, no.3, pp.235–243.

Goode R., Kronke H., Mckendrick E. (2015) Transnational Commercial Law: Text, Cases and Materials, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Foster K. (2019) Global Sports Law Revisited. Entertainment and Sports Law Journal, vol.2, no.1, pp.1–17.

Khabrieva T.Ya., Mutko V.L. (eds.) (2010) Nauchno-prakticheskiy kommentariy k Federal’nomu zakonu ot 4 dekabrya 2007 g. No.329-FZ “O fizicheskoy kul’ture i sporte v Rossiyskoy Federa­tsii” [Academical and practical commentary on the Federal law of 4 December 2007 No.329-FZ “On physical education and sport in the Russian Federation”], Moscow: Sovetskiy sport. (In Russian).

Korneeva V.A., Ogurtsov E.S. (2016) The politicization of Sports as a Soft Power Public Resource. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, vol.9, no.29, pp.1–7.

Loquin E. (2003) L’internationalisation des contrats sportifs. In: Simon G. (ed.) Les contrais des sportifs. L’exemple du football professionnel, Paris: PUF, pp.33–45.

McLaren R.H. (2001) The court of arbitration for sport: an independent arena for the word’s sports disputes. Valparaiso University Law Review, vol.35, no.2, pp.379–405.

Michaels R. (2007) The true lex mercatoria: law beyond the state. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, vol.14, no.2, pp.447–468.

Milgrom P.R., North D.C., Weingast B.R. (1990) The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, and the Champagne Fairs. Economics and Politics, vol.2, no.1, pp.1–23.

Nafziger J.A.R. (2004) Lex sportiva. International Sports Law Journal, no.1–2, pp.3–8.

Parrish R. (2012) Lex sportiva and EU sports law. European Law Review, vol.37, no.6, pp.716–733.

Ponkin I.V., Ponkina A.I. (2012) O korrelyatsii lex sportiva i sportivnogo prava. Vestnik Rossiyskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Yuridicheskie nauki, no.3, pp.110–117. (In Russian).

Saraev V.V. (2005) Sportivnoe pravo kak kompleksnaya otrasl’ prava. Nauchnyy vestnik Omskoy akademii MVD Rossii, no.2, pp.47–49. (In Russian).

Serdyukov A.V. (2011) Sportivnoe pravo kak kompleksnaya otrasl’ zakonodatel’stva [Sports law as a complex branch of legislation], Moscow: Yurlitinform. (In Russian).

Siekmann R.C.R. (2011) The Etymology of the Termini Technici Lex Sportiva and Lex Ludica: Where Do They Come From? International Sports Law Journal, no.3–4, pp.153–154.

Solov’ev A.A. (2011) Rossiyskiy i zarubezhnyy opyt sistematizatsii zakonodatel’stva o sporte [The Russian and foreign experience of systematization of the legislation on sports], Moscow: Buki Vedi. (In Russian).

Vedder C. (1984) The International Olympic Committee: An Advanced Non-Governmental Organization and the International Law. German Yearbook of International Law, vol.27, pp.233–258.

Zakharova L.I. (2019) Lex mercatoria and lex sportiva: peculiarities, similarities and differences. Lex Russica, no.11, pp.70–78.