Introduction: Arguably the most significant principle of contemporary private international law, "party autonomy", or contractual freedom of choice of the governing law also fulfils a key function within the political economy of private ordering in today's global context. In this respect, while the principle emerged as part and parcel of the "mythodology of modern law", it has also worked, less visibly, to destabilize modernity's assumptions about the relationship between law and sovereignty, which are now at the heart of the theoretical turmoil within the traditional legal paradigm. [First lines]