First Issue of 2010’s Journal du Droit International

The first issue of French Journal du droit international (Clunet) for 2010 was just released.

It includes three articles, but one only on private international law.

It is authored by Isabelle Barrière Brousse, who lectures at Aix Marseille University, and discusses the Impact of the Lisbon Treaty on Private international law (Le traité de Lisbonne et le droit international privé). The English abstract reads:

Since the evolution of European Community law already threatens the private international law of the Member States, will these systems survive the Lisbon Treaty ?

Despite the weakness of the legal basis of their competence, European authorities have already affected the rules concerning choice of law and of jurisdiction in many ways, and intend to exclude the Member States from the international scene by removing their right to conclude agreements with third countries. Will the Lisbon Treaty change this ? Between the affirmation of Community competence and respect of the Member States’ legal systems and traditions, the treaty’s influence seems to be difficult to forecast. Nevertheless, the emphasis on the role of the States and their National Parliaments and the very objective of creating a European judicial area while respecting diversity establish implied but real limitations on the expansion of Community rules in this area.

The Journal also offers four casenotes on judgments of the Cour de cassation, including In Zone Brands (Professor Sandrine Clavel) and one of the recent judgments of the Court on Franco-American parallel divorce proceedings (Johanna Guillaumé), and a casenote of the Hadadi judgment of the ECJ (Professor Louis d’Avout).