The Bustamante Code is a treaty written in Spanish that intended to establish common rules for Private International Law in the Americas. The common ideas of the treaty were developed by Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirven

Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirven

Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirven was a Cuban lawyer, teacher, author, politician and onetime Judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice at the Hague ....

 and solidified during the 6th Pan American Congress held in Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 in 1928 with the Treaty of Havana being attached as an Annex to the Bustamante Code.

The treaty was not widely accepted, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. withdrew in the middle of negotiations, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 did not sign it, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

 and Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

 decided to abide by the rules of Montevideo

Montevideo Convention

The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States was a treaty signed at Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 26, 1933, during the Seventh International Conference of American States. The Convention codified the declarative theory of statehood as accepted as part of customary international...

 with regard to private international law, and the countries to ratify did so countries with large reservations. The treaty is a set of rules which seek to regulate the legal relations of foreign trade among the countries party to the treaty. The previously mentioned reservations cover many of the States discretion on the use of this code in cases which contradicted the country's domestic legislation, so the actual purpose of it are distorted.

External Links

• http://www.oas.org/juridico/MLA/sp/gtm/sp_gtm-mla-leg-cdip.pdfText of the Bustamante Code (in Spanish PDF)