Private International Law in the 20th century

In December 2012, the Institute of Private International and Foreign Private Law of the University of Cologne hosted a symposium to commemorate the 100^th birthday of Gerhard Kegel and the 80^th birthday of Alexander Lüderitz. The invited speakers, Klaus Schurig (University of Passau), Karsten Otte (University of Mannheim), and Haimo Schack (University of Kiel) focused on the development of methods of private international law in the 20th century, which has been strongly influenced by the works of both academics, on how these methods may be used to explain conflict-of-laws problems in the 21^st century and how they can serve as the fundament of modern methodology of private international law.

The essays by the symposium’s speakers have now been published under the title ‘Internationales Privatrecht im 20. Jahrhundert: Der Einfluss von Gerhard Kegel und Alexander Lüderitz auf das Kollisionsrecht’, edited by Heinz-Peter Mansel. In addition to these essays, which include thoughts on Kegel’s ‘Interessenlehre’ as well as a comprehensive discussion of the renvoi doctrine, the book contains a short introduction to the works of Kegel and Lüderitz, synopses of the oral discussions that followed the talks at the symposium, and complete bibliographies of both Kegel and Lüderitz.