Webinar on Multistate Torts Ahead of the EAPIL Winter School, 2 December 2024

/in /by

On 2 December 2024, at 6 pm CET, a free webinar will take place in preparation of the 2025 edition of the EAPIL Winter School on Multistate Torts, which will be held on-site in Como between 10 and 15 February 2025 (see here for the full program and further details).

The webinar will give a glimpse of what the Winter School will be about and will briefly present some of its hot topics, such as online defamation, climate change litigation, artificial intelligence and crypto values.

The speakers are some of those who will be lecturing at the Winter School, namely Javier Carrascosa González (University of Murcia), Anatol Dutta (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), Thomas Kadner Graziano (University of Geneva), Tobias Lutzi (University of Augsburg), Satu Heikkilä (Administrative Law Judge), Silvia Marino (University of Insubria), Nadia Rusinova (The Hague University, attorney at law), Geert van Calster (KU Leuven) and Anna Wysocka-Bar (Jagiellonian University).

The webinar will also offer an opportunity to provide information about the EAPIL Winter School.

Join the free seminar to discover what awaits you during the Winter School week, and…if you want to know more, enrol and come to Como in February!

Those interested in attending the webinar shall write at eapilws@gmail.com in order to receive the Teams link.

More information on the Winter School is found here. To enrol in the Winter School, please fill in this form.

SICL: Workshop on Providing Information on Foreign Law to Courts on 26 November

/in /by

As foreign law assumes an increasingly significant role in judicial practice, the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law is pleased to announce a Workshop on Providing Information on Foreign Law to Courts, which will take place in Lausanne on November 26.

Renowned experts, both individuals and institutions, will delve into practical challenges and share insights, comparing practices from various countries, including England, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and USA.

Presentations will be conducted in English, in German or in French.

For further information, please contact: marie-laure.lauria@isdc-dfjp.unil.ch

The program for the workshop is available below or can be accessed here.

 

INDIVIDUAL EXPERTS

9.30-11.00

Chair: Dr. Lukas Heckendorn, Deputy Director, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law

  • Experiences in Poland and Germany compared

Prof. Arkadiusz Wudarski, European University Viadrina Frankfurt

  • A Common Law Experience

Prof. Franz Werro, University of Fribourg and Georgetown University

  • French Experiences

Prof. Gustavo Cerqueira, Université Côte d’Azur

Discussion

11.00-11.30: Coffee break

 

INSTITUTIONAL EXPERTS

11.30-12.30

Chair: Dr. Ilaria Pretelli, Legal Adviser, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law

  • The German Approach: The Max Planck Guidelines

Jan Peter Schmidt, Priv.-Doz., Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg

  • The Swiss Approach: experience of SICL

Lukas Heckendorn Urscheler, Deputy Director, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law

Discussion

12.30-13-30 : Lunch

BARCAMP

13.30-16.00

Moderator: Prof. Nadjma Yassari, Director, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law

A Barcamp session is an open and interactive format that encourages collaboration and idea-sharing. Since all participants join every session, the process is highly collaborative, ensuring focused, inclusive, and enriching discussions for everyone involved.

  • Proposing Topics: Any participant can suggest a topic, which will be guided by a moderator.
  • Moderated Discussions: A designated moderator ensures the session stays focused and that everyone has the chance to contribute.
  • Flexible Structure: Sessions can take the form of a short presentation, group discussion, or collaborative brainstorming.
  • Open Exchange: Everyone is encouraged to actively contribute their ideas, perspectives, and questions.
  • Shared Learning: The goal is to exchange knowledge, explore new approaches, and learn from each other.

16.00: closure of event

Issue 4 of Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly for 2024

/in /by

Issue 4 of Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly for 2024 was just published. It contains the following articles, case notes, and book review:

Katherine Reece-Thomas,  “State Immunity and Sunken Treasure: Finders will not Always be Keepers”

Anthony Kennedy, “Unanswered Questions”

Michael F Sturley†, “The Centenary of the Hague Rules: Celebrating a Century of International Conventions Overmining the Carriage of Goods by Sea”

2024 marks the centenary of the Hague Rules, which still play a central role in allocating the risk of cargo loss or damage. To celebrate that milestone, it is valuable to review the history, beginning with the pre-existing risk allocation. When maritime nations applied widely accepted principles differently, efforts began in the late nineteenth century to achieve uniformity by international agreement. Those efforts failed until domestic legislation exacerbated the problem and created greater pressure for a solution. Even after agreement was reached in 1924, however, another fourteen years passed before the Convention was widely in force. Since then, international uniformity has been challenged in multiple ways, and the story continues to this day.

 

Marcus Teo, “Foreign Law as Fact”

In English law, “foreign law”, as applied under choice-of-law rules, is a question of fact. This “fact doctrine”, however, faces scepticism for three reasons: it remains unclear whether foreign law is truly treated as a question of fact, why it is so treated, and what the precise fact-in-issue is. This article addresses these concerns. It demonstrates that, today, foreign law is treated like any other question of fact. It then argues that foreign law should be classified as a question of fact, and should refer to foreign legal rulings, because this facilitates the accurate prediction of foreign decisions.

 

Adrian Briggs, “Book Review – Dicey+100. Albert Venn Dicey: A Centennial Commemoration”

 

 

Virtual Workshop (in English) on December 3: Stéphanie Francq on “Overriding Mandatory Rules in Family Matters and Personal Status, Are Belgians the Only Ones?”

/in /by

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, the Hamburg Max Planck Institute will host its monthly virtual workshop Current Research in Private International Law at 2:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. (CET). Professor Stéphanie Francq (UCLouvain) will speak, in English, about the topic

“Overriding Mandatory Rules in Family Matters and Personal Status, Are Belgians the Only Ones?”

 

Are we really witnessing the occurrence of overriding mandatory rules in family matters and personal status? A new phenomenon seems indeed to surface in this area with examples of substantive rules or values, announced by the lawmaker, together with a clear intention to apply in identified international situations. Belgian law offers a series of examples. But are Belgian the only ones using this method? German law has also offered a better known and rather unfortunate illustration with the Act to prevent child marriage. These rules, their upsides and downsides, deserve close consideration. First and obviously for technical reasons: are we indeed facing overriding mandatory rules, similar to those concerning business transactions? Or is this some new form of public policy exception? Are these rules carefully designed legal objects or rather clumsy attempts to secure the application of the lex fori? Beyond the technicalities, the presentation will tend to investigate potential reasons behind this new phenomenon.

It turns out that these rules might have something to tell us about the current state of conflict of laws, its politics and its theories, and its need to look beyond its own borders.

 

The presentation will be followed by open discussion. All are welcome. More information and sign-up here.

If you want to be invited to these events in the future, please write to veranstaltungen@mpipriv.de.

Programme | Conference on Private International Law and Sustainable Development in Asia

/in /by

Private International Law and Sustainable Development in Asia

Date: 23 November 2024
Venue: Wuhan University School of Law, Conference Hall 120

Zoom link: Meeting ID: 846 5342 1671 Passcode: 206716

22 November 2024

06:00 PM: Conference Dinner

23 November 2024

08:30 – 09:00 AM: Registration and Welcome Coffee Read more

Tomorrow’s AAPrIL seminar: Benjamin Haward on The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods: Adoption and interpretation in Australia

/in /by

Join us online tomorrow for a free seminar on the CISG in Australia, delivered by Dr Benjamin Hayward.

Abstract

Australia adopted the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) – a treaty intended to harmonise cross-border sale of goods law – in 1989. Australia gives the treaty local effect via a range of State, Territory, and Commonwealth Acts. A problem has arisen, however, with respect to the wording of that legislation. Some Australian courts consider that the treaty only applies, on a provision-by-provision basis, where it is inconsistent with local law. According to international understandings, however, the CISG is intended to displace local law to its subject-matter extent when it applies.

With reference to Australia’s statutory interpretation rules, and the legislative histories preceding the CISG’s adoption in Australia, this seminar identifies a parliamentary intention to apply the CISG in full in Australia. It therefore identifies that Australia intended to adopt the CISG in a manner consistent with its internationally understood effect. This seminar also examines the nature of Australia’s CISG cases to-date, and identifies how future courts can better engage with the treaty in order to realise its objectives of supporting international trade. Read more

University of Geneva: Deadline to register extended to 18 November 2024 – Executive training on international child protection

/in /by

The University of Geneva is organising the second edition of the Executive Training on Civil Aspects of International Child Protection (ICPT). For more information, click here. Read more

Two Positions for Doctoral Students at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany

/in /by

The Department ‘Law & Anthropology ’ of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, is offering positions in the Max Planck Research Group ‘Transformations in Private Law: Culture, Climate, and
Technology’ headed by Mareike Schmidt for two doctoral students with projects on Cultural Embeddedness of Private Law.

The full advertisement can be found here.

ZEuP – Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 4/2024

/in /by

A new issue of ZEuP – Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht is now available and includes contributions on EU private law, comparative law and legal history, legal unification, private international law, and individual European private law regimes. The full table of content can be accessed here.

The following contributions might be of particular interest for the readers of this blog: Read more