Party Autonomy, Private Autonomy, and Freedom of Contract

Party Autonomy, Private Autonomy, and Freedom of Contract are misused concepts in the private law area. Indeed, there are a lot of connections among the three concepts; however, it does not mean that they can be used alternatively under any circumstances. After etymology research and semantic analysis, it can be found that the core of the three concepts is autonomy but the application scope and the emphases of the context of each concept are different in certain degree: Party autonomy emphasizes the respect of personal rights, private autonomy is opposed to the constraint and or restriction of public law, and the freedom of contract is an extension of the idea of equality and utility with the situation that commodity economy fully developed. In the applicable area of international private law, the following conclusion can be made: Private autonomy equals to party autonomy, and party autonomy includes freedom of contract.