by Tamás Szabados, ELTE Eötvös Loránd Universität Budapest

In disputes related to stolen or illegally exported cultural property, conflict of laws provisions often play a significant role due to the absence of universally accepted substantive private law rules. This has been analysed in a recent post shared on this blog.

In most private international laws, cultural goods are treated in the same way as any other object, and accordingly the law applicable to issues of property law is determined in accordance with the lex rei sitae principle. If cultural goods are stolen or illegally exported from a country and brought to another state, where a good faith buyer acquires ownership over the goods, the application of the lex rei sitae principle often results in the recognition of the title of the bona fide purchaser over that of the original owner. In order to promote the restitution of stolen and illegally exported cultural property, several authors argued that the lex rei sitae principle should be replaced by other connecting factors.  Read more...

In an article available here and forthcoming in the University of Pittsburgh Law Review, Professor Ronald A. Brand discusses the purposeful structure of the Hague Judgments Convention and how that structure can aid the implementation and operation of the Convention in countries with existing liberal and non-discriminatory approaches to judgments recognition—like the United States. In sum, the Convention is built on a list of “jurisdictional filters” in Article 5(1) and grounds for non-recognition in Article 7; if the former is satisfied, the judgment may circulate under the Convention, subject only to the grounds for non-recognition found in the latter. However, and importantly, Article 15 allows the recognition or enforcement of judgments under national law. For countries like the United States, with very liberal existing law on the recognition of foreign judgments, Article 15 may in fact provide a more efficient, effective, and economical approach, even under the Convention. This article addresses this concept.

The Minerva Center for Human Rights at Tel Aviv University will host an  international socio-legal (zoom-) workshop on 22-23 June 2021 to explore the impact of the Covid-19 crisis and its regulation on cross-border families:

Cross-border families (also known as transnational and globordered families) are a growing and diverse phenomenon. People around the globe create bi-national spousal relations, are assisted by cross-border reproduction services, or by a migrant care worker who provides care for a dependent family member. Likewise, families become cross-bordered when one of the parents relocates, with or without the child, or when a parent abducts the child. In addition, increasing rates of forced or voluntary migration create more and more cross-border families, with different characteristics and needs. While some kinds of cross-border families have attracted the attention of legal scholarship, other kinds are still neglected, and much is yet to be studied and discussed regarding the challenges embedded in the attempt to secure the right to family life in the age of globalization.  Read more...

In what appears to be a rather straightforward extension of the Court’s earlier decisions in Cases C-498/16 Schrems and C-208/18 Petruchová, the CJEU held last week in Case C-774/19 Personal Exchange that a natural person contracting with the operator of an online gambling service remains a consumer in the sense of Article 15 of Regulation 44/2001 (Brussels I; now Article 17 of Regulation 1215/2012 (Brussels Ia)) even if they use it for many hours a day and make their living from it.  Read more...