Yearbook of Private International Law, vol. X (2008)

I am grateful to Gian Paolo Romano, Production Editor of the Yearbook of Private International Law, for providing this presentation of the new volume of the YPIL.

Volume X (2008) of the Yearbook of Private International Law, edited by Prof. Andrea Bonomi and Prof. Paul Volken, and published by Sellier Euro­pean Law Publishers in association with the Swiss Institute of Com­parative Law (ISDC) of Lausanne, was put on the market last week.

Volume X, which celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Yearbook, is made up of 35 contributions on the most various subjects authored by scholars and practioners of almost all con­tinents. Its 743 pages make him one of the most considerable collections of PIL essays in English language of recent years. The volume may be ordered via the publisher’s website, where the table of contents and an extract are available for download.

The Doctrine section in­cludes three contributions concerning the Euro­pean judicial area: a first on the revised Lugano Convention on ju­risdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments of 30 October 2007, a second on the European jurisdiction rules appli­cable to commercial agents and a third on the recent decision of the European Court of Justice in Grunkin-Paul, a seminal case that opens new perspectives for the application of the recognition principle as opposed to classical conflict rules in the field of international family law. Other original contributions concern damages for breach of choice-of-forum agreements, accidental discrimi­nation in conflict of laws and the recent Spanish regulation of arbitration agreements.

Two Special sections of this volume are devoted, respectively, to the EC Regulation on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I) and to the new Hague Convention and Protocol on maintenance obliga­tions.

• In addition to several contributions of general nature, the special section on Rome I includes detailed analy­ses of the impact that the Regulation will have on the connection of specific cate­gories of contracts (contracts relating to intellectual and industrial property rights, distribution and franchise contracts, financial market and in­su­rance con­tracts), as well as some remarks from a Japanese perspective.

• The special section on maintenance obligations includes insider commen­taries on the two instruments adopted by the Hague Conference on 23 November 2007: the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and other Forms of Family Maintenance and the Protocol, which includes rules on the law applicable to maintenance obligations and aims to replace the 1973 Hague Applicable Law Convention.

The National Reports section includes the second part of a detailed study on private international law before African courts, a critical analysis of the new Spanish adoption system and of the conflict of laws issues raised by the Panama­nian business company, two articles on arbitration (in Israel and Romania), and several contributions concerning recent developments in Eastern European coun­tries (Macedonia, Estonia, Lithuania and Belarus). Africa is also at the centre of the report on UNCITRAL activities for international trade law reform in that continent.

The section on Court Decisions includes – together with commentaries on the Weiss und Partner and the Sundelind López decisions of the ECJ – de­tailed analyses of a recent interesting ruling of the French Cour de cas­sation on overriding mandatory provisions and of two Croatian judgments on copyright infringements.

The Forum Section is devoted to the recognition of trusts and their use in estate planning, the juridicity of the lex mercatoria and the use of natio­nality as a connecting factor for the capacity to negotiate.

Here is the full list of the contributions:

Doctrine

• Fausto Pocar, The New Lugano Convention on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters;
• Peter Mankowski, Commercial Agents under European Jurisdiction Rules. The Brussels I Regulation Plus the Procedural Consequences of Ingmar;
• Koji Takahashi, Damages for Breach of a Choice-of-court Agreement;
• Carlos Esplugues Mota, Arbitration Agreements in International Arbitration. The New Spanish Regulation;
• Gerhard Dannemann, Accidental Discrimination in the Conflict of Laws: Applying, Considering, and Adjusting Rules from Different Jurisdiction;
• Matthias Lehmann, What’s in a Name? Grunkin-Paul and Beyond;

Rome I Regulation – Selected Topics

• Andrea Bonomi, The Rome I Regulation on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations – Some General Remarks;
• Eva Lein, The New Rome I / Rome II / Brussels I Synergy;
• Pedro A. De Miguel Asensio, Applicable Law in the Absence of Choice to Contracts Relating to Intellectual or Industrial Property Right;
• Marie-Elodie Ancel, The Rome I Regulation and Distribution Contracts;
• Laura García Gutiérrez, Franchise Contracts and the Rome I Regulation on the Law Applicable to International Contracts;
• Francisco J. Garcímartin Alférez, New Issues in the Rome I Regulation: The Special Provisions on Financial Market Contracts;
• Helmut Heiss, Insurance Contracts in Rome I: Another Recent Failure of the European Legislature;
• Andrea Bonomi, Overriding Mandatory Provisions in the Rome I Regulation on the Law Applicable to Contracts;
• Yasuhiro Okuda, A Short Look at Rome I on Contract Conflicts from a Japanese Perspective;

New Hague Maintenance Convention and Protocol

• William Duncan, The Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance. Comments on its Objectives and Some of its Special Features;
• Andrea Bonomi, The Hague Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations;
• Philippe Lortie, The Development of Medium and Technology Neutral International Treaties in Support of Post-Convention Information Technology Systems – The Example of the 2007 Hague Convention and Protocol;

National Reports

• Richard Frimpong Oppong, A Decade of Private International Law in African Courts 1997-2007 (Part II);
• Santiago Álvarez González, The New International Adoption System in Spain;
• Daphna Kapeliuk, International Commercial Arbitration. The Israeli Perspective;
• Toni Deskoski, The New Macedonian Private International Law Act of 2007;
• Karin Sein, The Development of Private International Law in Estonia;
• Radu Bogdan Bobei, Current Status of International Arbitration in Romania;
• Marijus Krasnickas, Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judicial Decisions in the Republic of Lithuania;
• Daria Solenik, Attempting a ‘Judicial Restatement’ of Private International Law in Belarus;
• Gilberto Boutin, The Panamanian Business Company and the Conflict of Laws;

News from UNCITRAL

• Luca G. Castellani, International Trade Law Reform in Africa;

Court Decisions

• Pietro Franzina, Translation Requirements under the EC Service Regulation: The Weiss und Partner Decision of the ECJ;
• Marta Requejo Isidro, Regulation (EC) 2201/03 and its Personal Scope: ECJ, November 29, 2007, Case C-68/07, Sundelind López;
• Paola Piroddi, The French Plumber, Subcontracting, and the Internal Market;
• Ivana Kunda, Two Recent Croatian Decisions on Copyright Infringement: Conflict of Laws and More;

Forum

• Julien Perrin, The Recognition of Trusts and Their Use in Estate Planning under Continental Laws;
• Thomas Schultz, Some Critical Comments on the Juridicity of Lex Mercatoria;
• Benedetta Ubertazzi, The Inapplicability of the Connecting Factor of Nationality to the Negotiating Capacity in International Commerce.

(See also our previous posts on the 2006 and 2007 volumes of the YPIL)