The first issue of 2021’s International and Comparative Law Quarterly  has recently been published. It features a book review by Dr. Nahel Asfour of Dr. Gianluigi Passarelli’s book titled “Contract Law in Contemporary International Commerce: Considerations on the Complex Relationship between Legal Process and Market Process in the New Era of Globalisation [Nomos, Baden-Baden, 2019]. ” It contains no other topic that is directly on private international law.

On a personal note, I have earlier read Dr. Passarelli’s book to completion at least twice, and found it to be thought provoking and interesting. Dr Passarelli proposes an approach that gives principal focus to a contract as a wealth creation mechanism in addressing private international law matters. He argues that this approach should not be rigid but allow some gap-filling by the judges to a private international law contract.

He then applies this logic to the applicable law in the absence of choice under Rome I Regulation, and challenges the approach of the European Union (“EU”) legislator for giving too much emphasis to certainty through hard and fast rules, at the expense of flexibility. In this connection, he argues that the EU legislator’s approach  is contrary to the expectations of international commercial actors. The thesis of his book is that legal certainty in choice of law in determining the applicable law in the absence of choice is overrated under Rome I Regulation.

It is unlikely that the EU legislator at present will be convinced  by Dr. Passarelli’s argument that elevates the role of flexibility in the choice of law process, or accept a “regression” to Article 4(5) of Rome Convention style of flexibility that produced  uncertainty among Member State Courts. Legal certainty, predictability and uniformity are the cornerstone of EU private international law. My verdict is that Dr. Passarrelli’s work will remain relevant to students, scholars, practitioners, judges and legislators who prize flexibility over legal certainty in private international law.

From the publisher’ site:

The new issue of the AJ Contrat (12/2020) Dalloz contains a special dossier to mark the 40th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), prepared by Gustavo Cerqueira, full professor at the University of Nîmes, France (in French).

The dossier foreword reads as follows (English translation): “The international sale of goods supports a peace project between Nations. Ninety-four of them share today the same body of substantive rules largely governing the formation and the performance of contracts for the sale of goods as diverse as wine and children’s toys. This uniform law is supported by the United Nations Convention concluded in Vienna on April 11, 1980 (the CISG), which celebrates in 2020 its forty years. This anniversary could not go unnoticed. Few are the instruments on international harmonization that are coming at the age of maturity with such unparalleled authority and vitality. In addition to the constant expansion of its geographical scope of application through the increasing number of accessions, its influence on modernization of certain domestic contract laws, such as the recent legislative reform passed in France, attests to its importance. This can also be measured by the always fascinating questions that arise regarding its existence, its content and its application. Some of them will deserve a sharp analysis, sometimes renewed by those who are participating in this commemorative dossier. Thus, crucial to the success of the Convention – the uniform interpretation remains a challenge, while European Union law recognizes an unexpected importance to the Convention. Also, the CISG’s application still seems to be threatened by the silence of the contractors, while the Convention has dangerous liaisons with the French action directe. The links are no less complex between the foreclosure period and the deadline prescription period, while interest rates reveal unresolved issues. Last but not least, poignant current events call for a reinterpretation of the notion of impediment to perform”.

The dossier contains the following articles (titles have been translated into English):

The challenge of uniform interpretation, by Claude Witz (Saarland University)

The CISG’s articulation with the European Union Law, by Cyril Nourissat (University of Lyon 3)

Back on the parties’ silence about the CISG’s application, by Gustavo Cerqueira (University of Nîmes) and Nicolas Nord (University of Strasbourg)

The Vienna Convention and the action directe:  back on dangerous liaisons, by Etienne Farnoux (University of Strasbourg)

The links between the foreclosure period and the deadline prescription period (about CISG’s Article 39), by Marc Mignot (University of Strasbourg)

The issue of interest rates on arrears, by Franco Ferrari (New York University)

For a reinterpretation of the concept of impediment to perform, by Ludovic Pailler (University of Lyon 3)

The full table of contents is available here (in French).

The European Association of Private International (EAPIL) will host its Second Virtual Seminar on 27 January 2021, 5 to 7 pm (MET). Devoted to the digital teaching of Private International Law and its challenges in Corona times, the Seminar will present tools that may help to improve the digital teaching of our discipline and discuss pervasive problems from the perspective of both professors/lecturers and students.

The Seminar will be structured into two parts. The first part will focus on the perspective of professors/lecturers and the challenges of teaching Private International Law in digital formats. Speakers will be Morten Midtgaard Fogt (University of Aarhus) and Marion Ho-Dac (Polytechnic University of Hauts-de-France, Valenciennes). The second part will take the students’ perspective and discuss different digital teaching tools. Speakers will include Susanne Lilian Gössl (University of Kiel), María-Asunción Cebrián Salvat, Isabel Lorente Martínez and Javier Carrascosa González (all three University of Murcia).

The Seminar will be held via Zoom. If you wish to join, please register here by 25 January 2021 at noon. Registered participants will receive the details to join the Seminar on 26 January 2021.

For more information regarding the Second EAPIL (Virtual) Seminar, please write an e-mail to Susanne Gössl at sgoessl@law.uni-kiel.de.

For information regarding the EAPIL Seminar Series as such please get in touch with the EAPIL Secretary General, Giesela Rühl, at secretary.general@eapil.org.

Background:

The EAPIL (Virtual) Seminar Series seeks to contribute to the study and development of (European) Private International Law through English-language seminars on topical issues. It will provide an easily accessible and informal platform for the exchange of ideas – outside the bi-annual EAPIL conferences. At the same time, it will serve as a means for EAPIL members to connect with other EAPIL members and non-members.