Thalia Kruger obtained her BA and LLB degrees from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Thereafter she completed her PHD at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium on “Civil jurisdiction rules in the EU and their impact on third States” (subsequently published by Oxford University Press under the same title). While working on her PHD, she was a teaching and research assistant at the Law Faculty’s Institute for Private International Law where she tutored and lectured on various aspects of private international law and international business law. She has also participated in a research project funded by the European Commission on “International Civil litigation in Europe and relations with third States”.
Thalia subsequently worked at the Flemish Centre for Minorities where she give legal advice on Private International Law in family matters and then conducted EU funded research on international child abduction for Child Focus, an NGO working with sexually exploited and disappeared children.
Thalia is currently senior lecturer in Private International Law at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and honorary research associate at the University of Cape Town (South Africa).
On 27 June 2013 South Africa’s constitutional court has ruled on two matters of interest for specialists of private international law, specifically international civil procedure. In the first judgment,
It is not every day that a Constitutional Court rules on a matter of evidence. The case Tulip Diamonds FZE v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others concerned the taking of evidence in South Africa for a criminal investigation in Belgium. It was on a matter of common interest in South Africa and […]
The Academy of European Law (ERA), situated in Trier and with the financial support of the European Commission, organises conferences and summer schools on various topics of EU law. On 5-6 June a conference was held on recent developments in private international law and business law (covering civil jurisdiction, civil procedure, contract, delict, insolvency, and […]
In Bid Industrial Holdings (Pty) Ltd v Strang and another [2007] SCA 144 (RSA) the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa has ruled on 23 November 2007 that arresting a person in order to found or confirm (civil) jurisdiction is unconstitutional. Under South African law, when a person not domiciled in South Africa is […]
The article discusses the 2005 Hague Convention’s rules on jurisdiction (of the chosen and not-chosen courts) and the recognition and enforcement of resulting judgments. It then goes on to examine the role of the new convention in comparison to other conventions and to the Brussels I Regulation. Reference is made to the different objectives of […]
The July 2007 ICLQ contains an article by Prof Jan Neels on the revocation of wills in South African private international law with reference to other Commonwealth jurisdictions and the provisions of the Hague Convention on the Conflict of Laws Relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions (1961). Specific reference is made to section 3bis […]
In the case Phelan v Phelan 2007 (1) SA 483 (C) (judgment date 27 July 2006), the High Court of South Africa (Cape Provincial Division) confirmed the conflict of law rule that the place of marriage celebration determines the validity of the marriage. That law applies not only to formal validity, but also to substantial […]
1) Age of majority now 18 in South African law The entry into force of certain sections of the Children’s Act No 38 of 2005 on 1 July 2007 has changed the age of majority in South African law. It is now 18, while it was 21 before (Sec 17 of the Act). This is […]
In a judgment of 17 April 2007, the Court of first instance of Hasselt found that the exception of fraude à la loi did not apply to the following case: A man from India and a woman from The Netherlands married in Sweden. They had no connection to that country (no friends or family; never […]