The American Association of Private International Law (ASADIP) has postponed its annual conference to a later date in 2021, given the current pandemic. The 2021 conference is entitled “Private International Law and Modern Technologies” and will be held on 4-5 November 2021 in Washington DC (USA). The venues of the conference will be Georgetown University and the Organization of American States (OAS). Blockchain technology and its interrelation with PIL features prominently in the general topics to be discussed. For more information, click here.
News
The Pax Moot went totally online this year (OK, no surprises there). The case concerns an employment dispute and environmental damage due to mining in an unidentified African country (see the paxmoot website). It raises various issues of jurisdiction, applicable law, freezing orders, parallel proceedings and company structures.
Over the past two days the preliminary rounds took place on an online platform hosted by the University of Antwerp. The Universities of Cologne, Erasmus Rotterdam, Maastricht and Singapore Management University secured places in the semi-finals.
Please join us on 29 May at the links below for the semi-finals and finals. All welcome!
Semi-finals 1, 10.00 – 11.30 CEST: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/4a86f539e78642859e773e301ddbb8dd
University of Cologne v. Erasmus University Rotterdam
The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg is starting a new virtual workshop series in private international law. The first speaker, Matthias Lehmann from Bonn University, will present (in German) on Tuesday, June 2, at 11:00-12:30 via zoom. His topic: Covid-19 and Private International Law (see also here and here). Open to everyone, including doctoral and predoctoral students!
More information (in German) and the link for signing up are here.
This book provides an unprecedented analysis on the place of performance. The central theme is that the place of performance is of considerable significance as a connecting factor in international commercial contracts. This book challenges and questions the approach of the European legislator for not explicitly giving special significance to the place of performance in determining the applicable law in the absence of choice for commercial contracts. It also contains, inter alia, an analogy to matters of foreign country mandatory rules, and the coherence between jurisdiction and choice of law. It concludes by proposing a revised Article 4 of Rome I Regulation, which could be used as an international solution by legislators, judges, arbitrators and other stakeholders who wish to reform their choice of law rules.
The table of contents and further information on the book can be found on the publisher’s website: https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/place-of-performance-9781509936205/.
On 2 July 2019, the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) adopted the 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (2019 HCCH Judgments Convention). The instrument has already been described as a true game changer and the apex stone in international commercial litigation.
To celebrate the adoption of the 2019 HCCH Judgments Convention, the Netherlands International Law Review (NILR) produced a special edition entirely dedicated to the instrument.
Volume 67(1) of the NILR, which is now available in its final, paginated version, features contributions from authors closely involved in the development of the instruments. The articles provide deep insights into the making, and intended operation, of the instrument. They are a valuable resource for law makers, practitioners, members of the judiciary and academics alike.
A French Décret, allows, for the time of the state of emergency, notarization by a French notary without a need for parties to be physically present. Explanation and analysis is here and (briefly) here. Importantly, the possibility is also open to non-residents of France. Notaries in France had, unsurprisingly, warned of the risk of fraud, but the Conseil d’Etat approved of the decret.
Austria has a similar rule in sec. 90a of its Notary Act. In Germany, this is not (yet?)possible: Art. 40(1) of the German Notarisation Act requires physical presence of the parties; the greatest distance allowed is, apparently, the way to the parking lot. Estonia has introduced an e-notary for notarisation from abroad, but this is available only in Estonian embassies.
Preliminary question and its context
In its Judgment of 7 May 2020, delivered in the joined cases C-267/19 and C-323/19 without Advocate General’s Opinion, the Court of Justice provides some further guidance on the implications of its previous case law and most notably of the Judgment in the case C-551/15, Pula Parking (‘Judgment in Pula Parking’).
Just as in the case that led to Judgment in Pula Parking, the requests for a preliminary ruling in the cases in question were lodged in the context of the proceedings on the oppositions to the writs of execution. Put succinctly: under the Croatian law, a notary issues a writ of execution based on an ‘authentic document’. The party against whom enforcement is sought may lodge an opposition to that writ. The court to which the opposition is transferred has jurisdiction to set aside the writ and to annul the measures taken so far. The procedure continues according to the rules applicable to cases of opposition to a payment order.
by Jie (Jeanne) Huang, Sydney Law School
On 19 May 2020, the Supreme Court of New South Wales rendered the judgment in Bao v Qu; Tian (No 2) and decided to enforce a monetary judgment issued by the Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai Province, China. This is the first case at the state of NSW in Australia where a Chinese monetary judgment got enforced.
The Chinese judgment-rendering proceedings
As mentioned in my previous post, the Zeitschrift für Recht und Islam / Journal of Law & Islam issued a Call for Papers and kindly provided the following information:
The Zeitschrift für Recht und Islam / Journal of Law & Islam (ZR&I, previously: GAIR-Mitteilungen) is a scientific journal in co-operation with the Gesellschaft für Arabisches und Islamisches Recht e. V. (GAIR), a non-profit scientific association established in 1997. Its aim is the furthering of mutual understanding of law, legal systems and legal practice between European scholars and those of the Arabic and wider Islamic region.
Volume 11/2019 of the Journal of Law & Islam / Zeitschrift für Recht & Islam (ZR&I) has just been published. The full issue is available online here. It includes case notes and articles devoted to questions of Islamic law and its interaction with other legal systems. Some of the articles are in English or French.
The Journal editors were so kind to provide me with English translations of the German articles:
Zeitschrift für Recht & Islam / Journal of Law & Islam ZR&I Volume 11 (2019)
EDITORIAL ………. (pp. 5 f.)
RECHTSPRECHUNG & URTEILSBERICHTE [CASE LAW & JUDGMENT DISCUSSION] ………. (pp. 5–12)