Publication: Mills on The Confluence of Public and Private International Law

Alex Mills (Selwyn College, Cambridge) has published a monograph, based upon his doctorate, on The Confluence of Public and Private International Law: Justice, Pluralism and Subsidiarity in the International Constitutional Ordering of Private Law (2009, Cambridge University Press). Here’s the blurb:

A sharp distinction is usually drawn between public international law, concerned with the rights and obligations of states with respect to other states and individuals, and private international law, concerned with issues of jurisdiction, applicable law and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in international private law disputes before national courts. Through the adoption of an international systemic perspective, Dr Alex Mills challenges this distinction by exploring the ways in which norms of public international law shape and are given effect through private international law. Based on an analysis of the history of private international law, its role in US, EU, Australian and Canadian federal constitutional law, and its relationship with international constitutional law, he rejects its conventional characterisation as purely national law. He argues instead that private international law effects an international ordering of regulatory authority in private law, structured by international principles of justice, pluralism and subsidiarity.

• Brings together and develops legal scholarship in both public and private international law, making the material from each discipline more relevant and accessible to the other • A wide-ranging analysis of approaches to private international law, exploring their relationship with ideas of international constitutionalism. Examines the rules of private international law in various common law and civil law systems from an international systemic perspective relevant to a global readership • Includes extensive comparative analysis of the role of private international law and its relationship with constitutional law in the US, EU, Australia and Canada, covering both history and new developments

This is a highly interesting and persuasive work, exploring themes and ideas that have either never gained the mainstream approval of private international (or public international) scholars, or that simply have never been examined in such detail before. You can view the Table of Contents, as well as an Excerpt, on the CUP website. The book is available in paperback for £24.99, or hardback for £55 from CUP, or you can order it from Amazon UK for just £21.24 (paperback) or £46.75 (hardback) respectively. It is highly recommended.