Last call: JPrivIntL-SMU Virtual Conference on Conflicts of Jurisdiction (23 to 24 June 2022)

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As previously announced, the Journal of Private International Law-Singapore Management University Virtual Conference on Conflicts of Jurisdiction will be held online on 23 to 24 June 2022 (6.00 pm to 10.20 pm Singapore time, 11.00 am to 3.20 pm British Summer Time on each day). The event is supported by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Complimentary registration for academics, government and international organisation officials, JPrivIntL Advisory Board members and students will close on 22 June 2022. More information on the conference and the link to register can be found here.

Prestige of Spanish judgment over the UK arbitral award – not on the principle, but on the conditions to it

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This morning, the CJEU has pronounced on the interplay between the Brussels I bis Regulation and arbitration, this time in the context of the recognition in the UK of a judgment given by a Spanish court.

I. Facts

This case C-700/20 results from the event taking place two decades ago. Some of you may recall that in November 2002, the Greek-owned and Bahamas-operated oil tanker Prestige encountered a storm in the seas close to Galicia coast in Spain. Being damaged, the tanker eventually sunk leaving oil spill and causing significant damage to northern coast of Spain and the western coast of France.

The Spanish state and some other parties sought damage compensation, in the context of the criminal proceedings before the Audiencia Provincial de A Coruña commenced against the master, owners, and the London P&I Club, the liability insurer of both the vessel and its owners, in 2003. In 2012, the London P&I Club commenced arbitration proceedings in London seeking a declaration that, pursuant to the arbitration clause in the insurance contract concluded with the owners of the Prestige, the Spanish state was required to pursue its claims in the arbitration proceedings, and that it could not be liable to the Spain in respect of those claims due to the ‘pay to be paid’ clause.

The arbitration was quicker and the award was made in 2013, upheld the claims also limiting the the London P&I Club’s liability up to USD 1 billion. The P&I Club applied to the High Court of Justice (England & Wales), Queen’s Bench Division (Commercial Court), under Section 66 (1) and (2) of the Arbitration Act 1996, for leave to enforce the arbitral award in that jurisdiction in the same manner as a judgment or order and for a judgment to be entered in the terms of that award. The leave was granted in 2013 along with a judgment in the terms of the award.

The Spanish proceedings ended in 2018 by the judgment of the Tribunal Supremo whereby it confirmed that the master, ship owners and the P&I Club were liable to over 200 parties, including the Spanish state, subject, in the case of the P&I Club, to the contractual limit of liability of USD 1 billion. In 2019, the Audiencia Provincial de A Coruña issued an order setting out the amounts that each of the claimants was entitled to obtain from the respective defendants, entitling the Spanish State to be paid approximately EUR 2.3 billion, subject in the case of the P&I Club to the limit of EUR 855 million. Soon after, the Spanish state made an application to the High Court of Justice (England & Wales), Queen’s Bench Division, on the basis of Article 33 of the Brussels I Regulation, for recognition of the latter enforcement order. Slightly prior to the expiration of the Brexit transition period, the UK court made a reference for preliminary ruling concerning the Brussels I Regulation, Article 1(2)(d) – exclusion of arbitration, and Article 34(1) and (3) – grounds for refusal of recognition and/or enforcement.

II. The Issues

At issue was whether that recognition or enforcement could be refused on the basis of the existence, in the UK, of a judgment entered in the terms of an arbitral award and the effects of which are irreconcilable with those of the abovementioned judicial ruling (first and second question). And, if not, whether recognition or enforcement may be refused as being contrary to public policy on the ground that it would disregard the force of res judicata acquired by the judgment entered in the terms of an arbitral award (third question).

III. Decision and Reasoning

Not following the opinion of AG Collins delivered in May this year, the CJEU held that a judgment entered by a court of a MS (in this case, UK) in the terms of an arbitral award cannot prevent the recognition there of a judgment given in another MS (in this case, Spain) where a judicial decision resulting in an outcome equivalent to the outcome of that award could not have been adopted by a court of the first MS without infringing the provisions and the fundamental objectives of the Brussels I Regulation. In the case at hand, this means that the Spanish judgment could have been refused recognition and enforcement only if the UK judgment entered by the UK court in the terms of an arbitral award could have been adopted by a UK court without infringing the provisions and the fundamental objectives of that Regulation.
However, the CJEU went on to explain that such fundamental objectives include the principles of free movement of judgments in civil matters, predictability as to the courts having jurisdiction and therefore legal certainty for litigants, sound administration of justice, minimisation of the risk of concurrent proceedings, and mutual trust in the administration of justice (para. 56). It added another requirement –that such judgment should not violate the right to an effective remedy guaranteed in Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (para. 58).

Turning to the facts of the case, the CJEU concludes that the respective UK judgment could not have been rendered on the basis of the Brussels I Regulation without infringing two fundamental rules of the Regulation: first, the rule on the relative effect of an arbitration clause included in an insurance contract which does not extend to claims against a victim of insured damage who bring a direct action against the insurer, in tort, delict or quasi-delict, before the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred or before the courts for the place where the victim is domiciled and, second, the rule on lis pendens which coordinates parallel proceedings based on the priority principle favouring the court first seised.

In answering the third question, the CJEU has relied on the opinion of the AG Collins, who stated the EU legislature intended to regulate exhaustively the issue of the force of res judicata acquired by a judgment given previously and, in particular, the question of the irreconcilability of the judgment to be recognised with that earlier judgment by means of Article 34(3) and (4) of the Brussels I Regulation, thereby excluding the possibility that recourse be had, in that context, to the public-policy exception set out in Article 34(1) of that Regulation. Therefore, res judicata cannot be contained in the notion of public policy for the purpose of recognition and enforcement of judgments under Article 34 of the Brussels I Regulation.

Undoubtedly, this judgment will provoke different reactions, but one thing is certain this is a one-hit wonder in UK given that UK is no longer bound by the Brussels regime.

The CJEU judgment has been made availalbe online yet, but the CJEU issued the Press Release.

The Supreme Court’s Decision in ZF Automotive et al. v. Luxshare, Ltd.: A U.S. Perspective

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This is a guest post by Izaak Weaver-Herrera, JD student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Third-party discovery in the United States pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 has often represented a pragmatic, if contentious, tool for international counsel. However, in a decision this week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that § 1782 discovery may be ordered only if the assembled “foreign or international tribunal” is a body which has been conferred governmental or intergovernmental authority. There has already been a wealth of reaction to this decision, including on this site. This post will offer a few additional perspectives.

As a bit of background, ZF Automotive arrived on the Court’s docket as a consolidation of two cases: ZF Automotive US, Inc., et al. v. Luxshare, Ltd. and Alixpartners, LLP, et al., v. the Fund for Protection of Investor’s Rights in Foreign States. Both cases questioned an open aspect of § 1782’s use: whether the phrase “foreign or international tribunal” included private commercial arbitrations between parties of different States and whether it included arbitral panels assembled pursuant to bilateral investment treaties. The Court ruled that since neither panel was conferred governmental authority, § 1782 discovery would be inappropriate in both instances.

Justice Barrett, writing for a unanimous Court, adopted a textual approach to the question. In other words, this was less of a decision on international policy, and more a reflection of what Congress said and meant. The Court paid particular attention to the use of “foreign” and “international” as modifiers to the word “tribunal.” The latter was more critical than the former. The term “[t]ribunal” has peculiar governmental or sovereign connotations, the Court said, “so ‘foreign tribunal’ more naturally refers to a body belonging to a foreign nation than to a tribunal that is simply located in a foreign nation.” Similarly, the Court found that “international tribunal” under the statute more naturally referred to tribunals between nations, rather than arbitral panels composed of or adjudicating issues between nationals of different States.

The Court also reasoned that this understanding of the statute more uniformly aligned with principles underlying both § 1782’s origin and the Federal Arbitration Act. The express purpose of § 1782 was to foster international comity. An overly broad application of § 1782, the Court’s view, would permit the use of district court resources in furtherance of “purely private bodies adjudicating purely private disputes abroad,” positioning the U.S. court system as a persistent presence in potentially limitless international disputes. The Court’s opinion also recognized the tension such a reading would create between the discovery permitted under the FAA. While the FAA restricts discovery to the discretion of arbitration panels, § 1782 permits both the tribunal itself and any “interested person” to submit requests for discovery. Thus, the Court reasoned, a narrower reading of § 1782 also serves to harmonize the scope of arbitration in the United States.

With these observations, the private arbitral tribunal in ZF Automotive was not a “foreign or international tribunal” under § 1782. This was deemed “straightforward.” The Court found the arbitration panel in the Alixpartners dispute more complicated, but ultimately reached the same conclusion. The opinion noted the BIT “simply references the set of rules that govern the panel’s formation and procedure if an investor chooses that forum,” and therefore did not confer permanent sovereign authority on the ad hoc tribunal. Rather, Lithuania simply consented to an arbitration much in the same way two private entities might. Thus, although the Alixpartners tribunal could render a judgment against Lithuania based on its consent in a treaty, it had not been conferred permanent sovereign authority and could not be considered a “foreign or international tribunal.”

The Court did not “foreclose[] the possibility that sovereigns might imbue an ad hoc arbitration panel with official authority.” So although Mixed Claims Commissions of years’ past didn’t quit analogize to modern BIT tribunals, the Court acknowledged that the former may indeed fall on the permissible side of the Court’s new bright line. As international tribunals keep specializing and proliferating (think of the proposed Multilateral Investment Court, or bodies entrusted to handle international criminal law), future questions as to whether a body is “imbued with governmental authority” will for sure arise—but, of course, private commercial arbitration is clearly outside the bounds of section 1782.

Conference Invitation – “Sense and Sensibility in Cross-Border Cases: Couples’ Property”

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The conference Sense and Sensibility in Cross-Border Cases: Couples’ Property will gather line of academic and expert speakers from several countries who will present the results of the research carried out so far under the EU Justice project EU-FamPro dedicated to the EU Twin Regulations (2016/1103 and 2016/1104) in addition to some national topics. Please check the conference programme for details.

The conference will take place on 30 June 2022 in a beautiful venue of the Jean Monnet Inter-University Centre in Opatija (Croatia) and online. The conference is open access without charging any fees, but registration for both onsite and online attendance is required here by 20 June 2022.

The conference is organised by the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law and the Croatian Comparative Law Association in cooperation with the University of Camerino, the University of Ljubljana, the University of Almeria and the Lithuanian Law Institute.

ABLI-HCCH webinar: Cross-Border Commercial Dispute Resolution – HCCH 2005 Choice of Court and 2019 Judgments Conventions (27 July 2022

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Written by Catherine Shen, ABLI

Following a successful collaboration last year, the Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI) and the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) are joining hands again for a second joint webinar this year on Wednesday 27 July between 3 to 6pm (Singapore time).

Titled Cross-border Commercial Dispute Resolution – HCCH 2005 Choice of Court and 2019 Judgments Conventions, the webinar will comprise two sessions, each devoted to one of the conventions. Attendees have the option of attending one or both sessions.

Invited speakers Sara Chisholm-Batten (Partner, Michelmores LLP), the Honourable Justice David Goddard (Court of Appeal, New Zealand), Justice Anselmo Reyes, (International Judge, Singapore International Commercial Court), Nish Shetty (Partner, Clifford Chance LLP) and Dr Ning Zhao Senior Legal Officer, HCCH) are expected to talk about the practical operations of the Choice of Court Agreements and Judgments Conventions, how they complement each other and whether the recent debate on the Choice of Court Agreements Convention is justified.

For more information or to register, click here. Early bird discount is available till 26 June. Queries about the webinar can be directed to Catherine at info@abli.asia.

AMEDIP’s upcoming seminar: The need for a PIL law for Ecuador – 16 June 2022 (at 3 pm Mexico City time)

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The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) is holding a webinar on 16 June 2022 at 3:00 pm (Mexico City time – CDT), 10:00 pm (CEST time). The topic of the webinar is The need for a PIL law for Ecuador and will be presented by Professor Jaime Vintimilla Saldaña (in Spanish).

The details of the webinar are:

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89189611809?pwd=RXhDeE5Gdlkwd2prWnREeVhVelBudz09

Meeting ID: 891 8961 1809

Password: BMAAMEDIP

Participation is free of charge.

This event will also be streamed live: https://www.facebook.com/AmedipMX

Out now: Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft vol. 121 (2022) no. 2

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The most recent issue of the German Journal of Comparative Law (Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft) has just been published. The editors mourn the loss of Professor Peter Mankowski (1966–2022), who served as an editor of the ZVglRWiss from 2009 to his untimely death. This issue contains an obituary written by his academic pupil, Professor Oliver L. Knöfel (Viadrina). In addition, this issue offers several presentations made at the conference “Access – Lessons from Africa” that was held at the University of Bayreuth as well as articles on international tort and corporate law. Here are the abstracts:

 

Eghosa O. Ekhator: Multinational Corporations, Accountability and Environmental Justice: The move towards subregional litigation in Africa

In the absence of an explicit international framework on the regulation of the crossborder activities of multinational corporations (MNCs), coupled with the barriers to accessing environmental justice through litigation in domestic courts, many victims of environmental injustice now institute cases in foreign jurisdictions especially the home states of the MNCs because they believe they will get justice in those courts. On the other hand, there is plethora of sub-regional institutions that have been relied upon by victims of environmental injustices arising from activities of MNCs in Africa. This article focuses on the reliance on sub-regional judiciaries in Africa by different stakeholders including oil producing communities, individuals, and other relevant stakeholders amongst others. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice (ECCJ) is used as the case-study in this article. Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in Nigeria have also relied on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice (ECCJ) to seek redress for victims of environmental injustice in Nigeria.

 

Claudia Maria Hofmann: Linkages between access to information and access to health care

Information plays a crucial role when it comes to health care. This article elaborates its enabling function with regard to strengthening the position of patients. To this end, reference is made to the human right to health, which is widely acknowledged in both international and regional human rights instruments. In this article, the interpretation provided by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its general comment no. 14 on the right to the highest attainable standard of health serves as a basis for identifying the key elements state and non-state actors should take into account when providing health-related information to the public.

 

Victoria Miyandazi: Inequality and Access to Justice: A Focus on the Adjudication of Socio-Economic Rights in Kenya

Kenya’s 2010 Constitution establishes the necessary legal framework for tackling inequalities in the country. The multiple provisions on equality, non-discrimination and socio-economic rights create the impetus for rights-based litigation. Now society wants to claim these rights but there are still many hurdles to do so. Many special interest groups do not have access to lawyers nor the skills to access courts on their own. The growing concern is, therefore, that despite the progressive nature of constitutional provisions that seek to tackle inequalities in the country, they are not by themselves the panacea to the problem of access to justice in the country. Aside from the prohibitive cost of legal representation being a major concern, there are other access to justice challenges that inhibit the poor and marginalised in Kenya from instituting claims in court, and which also affect their chances of succeeding in their claims. This article discusses how an equality-sensitive approach to adjudicating socio-economic rights can help avoid reinforcing inequality and promote equality. It argues that failure to apply such an approach can exacerbate the inequality and access to justice challenges that vulnerable groups already face, especially in times of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Justin Monsenepwo: Decolonial Comparative Law and Legal Transplants in Africa

On the occasion of a communication made in the aftermath of independence, many African scholars wondered whether African law would continue to be influenced by French law. More than five decades after, the mark of the considerable influence European law has in African former colonies is still perceptible. Yet, in a decolonized context, it should not be implied that European nations rank higher than African nations and that the laws of the former colonizers provide better solutions to African problems. To decolonize legal thinking in Africa, this contribution suggests improving the training of African lawyers and rediscovering customary law to take it into account in the development of legal rules in Africa. This would offer several practical benefits; however, the chief benefit is that it would remarkably boost the ability of lawyers and lawmakers in Africa to innovate.

 

Aron Johanson, Andreas Rapp and Anna Vatter: Mosaiktheorie ad absurdum – Örtliche Zuständigkeit im Rahmen des Art. 7 Nr. 2 EuGVVO bei Persönlichkeitsrechtsverletzungen

The article deals with the case law developed by the ECJ on the question of jurisdiction according to article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation in cases of infringement of personality rights. In particular, the so-called “mosaic approach“ is examined, which the ECJ has consistently applied to solve the problem of such multiple locality cases. The article pays particular attention to the hitherto little-discussed problem of local jurisdiction. It is first shown that the predominant German legal practice in this regard is regularly incompatible with article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation. At the same time, the consistent application of the mosaic approach in the area of local jurisdiction also leads to completely absurd and thus equally unacceptable results. Therefore, the article is rounded off with brief considerations on how local jurisdiction can be determined sensibly and in conformity with European law.

 

Luca Della Tommasina: Genossenschaften und nachrangige Mitgliederdarlehen

The essay deals with Italian cooperative companies and the possibility to extend some sort of equitable subordination rule to the loans granted by their members. The article 2467 of the Italian civil code provides that the loans granted to limited liability companies (società a responsabilità limitata – „S.r.l.”) by any member shall be subordinated to the other creditors of the company if at the time the loan is advanced: (i) there is an excessive imbalance between the company’s indebtedness and the net assets; (ii) or the company’s financial situation would require an equity contribution instead of a loan. In the cooperative companies’ field the problem arises from the convergence of two circumstances. On the one hand the argument that article 2467 is compatible with cooperative firms has been rejected in the Italian case law. On the other hand, in 2017 a reform of cooperative law has excluded the subordination (and more precisely the subordination according to the article 2467) for the amounts that a cooperative company receives from its members as “prestito sociale”. The essay is intended to demonstrate that: (i) the (equitable) subordination is consistent with cooperative firms; (ii) the 2017 reform must therefore be interpreted in a restrictive way. The need to find balanced solutions to the problem seems to be confirmed by the recent developments of the German legal framework.

 

The Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft was founded in 1878 and is Germany’s oldest continuously published periodical on comparative and private international law. Its current editor-in-chief is Professor Dörte Poelzig, M.jur. (Oxon), University of Hamburg. Content is available online either through the website of the Deutscher Fachverlag or via beck online.

 

Conference Report: Private International Law Festival 2022 Edinburgh

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Private International Law Festival

16 to 17 May 2022

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

by Michael Cremer and Samuel Zeh*

After two years of living through a global pandemic, the very first Private International Law Festival from 16 to 17 May 2022, held in Edinburgh, was the first opportunity for many to finally meet other scholars and exchange ideas in person again. The event was hosted by the University of Edinburgh in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (Hamburg) and organized primarily by Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm (Edinburgh).

As its name implies, the Festival was meant as an opportunity for scholars from all around the world to celebrate the many facets of the discipline. This was reflected in the broad range of presentations, which featured both traditional and novel approaches to Private International Law (PIL). The two-day Festival included seven panels, the Forum Conveniens Annual Lecture at Edinburgh Law School and a book launch. Thematically, it encompassed not only sustainable development, decolonial theory and migration governance, but also Private International Law in Scotland, same-sex relationships and many other topics.

After a welcome by the host Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm who emphasized the overarching goal to celebrate the discipline, the first cluster of the event focused on Private International Law and Sustainable Development. Hans van Loon (Institut de Droit International) gave an overview of the relationship between Private International Law and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030. He outlined the challenge of reconciling economic development with sustainability and the contribution PIL can make towards this goal. In the previous year, he had, together with Ralf Michaels and Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm, worked on the project “The Private Side of Transforming our World – UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Role of Private International Law” which culminated in a Conference and an open-access book publication. As the coordinator of that project, Samuel Zeh (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg) elaborated on the lessons learned and insights gained in the process. Afterwards, María Mercedes Albornoz (MacCormick Fellow, Edinburgh Law School / CIDE, México) offered a Global South perspective on Sustainable Development and Private International Law. The first thematic panel concluded with Ralf Michaels discussing whether facilitation and regulation as key objectives of PIL can be reconciled with the quest for sustainability.

Ralf Michaels then switched to chair the second panel of the day on Decolonising Law and Private International Law. It was started off by Roxana Banu (Queen Mary University of London) with Reflections on Private International Law’s Colonial History. She made the case for expanding the intellectual history of Private International Law both geographically and in terms of actors, while at the same time situating PIL theories and techniques in a colonial context. Subsequently, Nicole Štýbnarová (University of Helsinki / University of Oxford) elaborated on how Private International Law has transitioned from arguing about transnational marriages from relativist arguments in the 19th century to universalist language and how this transition was sparked by the changing imperial economy. María Julia Ochoa Jiménez (Universidad de Antioquia) addressed PIL in Latin America and explained its neo-colonial character by tracing its historical development. Finally, Sandrine Brachotte (Sciences Po Paris) laid out a method for decolonizing PIL with non-secular worldviews. She suggested a pragmatic approach that goes from specific cases to theory, thereby altering the concepts of Private International Law.

After the lunch break, two panels – chaired by Gerry Maher (University of Edinburgh) and Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm – were dedicated to Private International Law in Scotland in accordance with the location of the Festival. Scholars from several Scottish universities gave an overview of their respective Private International Law curricula and their current topics of research. This included Paul Beaumont and Jayne Holliday (University of Stirling), Justin Borg-Barthet and Patricia Živkovi? (University of Aberdeen), Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm (Edinburgh Law School), Janeen Carruthers and Bobby Lindsay (University of Glasgow). Additionally, Kirsty Hood (The Faculty of Advocates) and Michael Clancy (Law Society of Scotland) emphasized the importance of Private International Law for legal practitioners in Scotland.

Like every grand festival the Private International Law Festival also took place on different stages: The main stage in the Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre at Edinburgh Law School was reserved for the Forum Conveniens Annual Lecture. It was delivered by Máire Ní Shúilleabháin (University College Dublin) on Same-Sex Couples in the Cross-Border Context: Closing the Gaps in the Conflict of Laws. Living up to this title the lecture was a true tour de force as it covered virtually all aspects of the topic. It brought together common law perspectives from Irish, Canadian and UK law with the European regulations and requirements of negative integration and cross-border recognition as established by the judgments of the CJEU. Thus, the lecture sparked an animated debate which was chaired by Carlos Esplugues Mota (Universitat de València) and continued well into the subsequent Forum Conveniens Reception.

The second day of the Festival opened with a cluster on a new project that the panelists are working on: Private International Law and Sustainable Migration Governance. Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm, Jinske Verhellen (Ghent University), Gülüm Özçelik (Bilkent University), Laura Carballo Piñeiro (University of Vigo), Ulla Liukkunen (University of Helsinki) and Hans van Loon presented their findings up until now and future plans for this project. This includes issues such as migrants’ right to legal identity, access to social security schemes in a cross-border context and circular migration.

The topic of migration was also a focus of the second panel of the day, which was chaired by Kasey McCall-Smith (Edinburgh Law School) and offered Interdisciplinary Latin American Perspectives on Coloniality and Migration. Isadora Dutra Badra Bellati (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg) analyzed a Brazilian Supreme Court decision on the legality of the outsourcing of labor through the lens of decolonial theory. This was followed by Valentina Rioseco (University of Edinburgh) discussing whether the obligation of states to allow entry and stay in international and inter-American human rights law can pave pathways for regular migration. Afterwards, Gabriela García García (University of Aberdeen) spoke about The Latin American Landscape of Migrant Integration and Inclusion and proposed a baseline framework for domains and indicators of integration in Latin America. Next, Nuni Vieira Jorgensen (Queen Mary University of London) shed light on the effects that the closure of land borders has on transnational family arrangements and family reunifications: “protected borders” tend to interrupt care arrangements to the detriment of transborder families. As last speaker on the panel, Marilda Rosado (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) gave an overview of initiatives that support migrants in Brazil and foster cooperation.

The next highlight of the Festival was the book launch of the much awaited “Guide to Global Private International Law” (Hart Publishing). The editors, Paul Beaumont and Jayne Holliday, presented the book, which not only provides an overview of PIL from a global perspective, but also offers many suggestions for its further unification. They were joined by multiple contributors, some in the room and some connected virtually, who gave short insights into their chapters and their workflow. Keeping in the spirit of the Festival, this was a true celebration of the hard work and dedication that have gone into compiling this guide.

The last panel of the Festival was chaired by Alex Mills (University College London) and covered New Horizons for Private International Law. First, Nicolas Rennuy (University of York) analyzed the Law of Social Security Coordination and showed how there are multiple links between the field and Private International Law, including the type of conflict rules, the connecting factors, the scope of the rules and conceptions of indirect choice of law. Afterwards, Michael Cremer (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg) made the case for Private International Law perspectives in patent law, illustrating this through a conflict of laws reconstruction of the right of priority stemming from the 1883 Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property. Next, Rosario Espinosa (Universitat de València) presented her work on Sorority, Equality and Private International Law explaining how Private International Law can be used as a tool to promote equality and solidarity between women. The last contribution was made by Toni Marzal (University of Glasgow) who proposed A Relations-First Approach to Choice of Law and criticized the established positivist perspective that dominates the current understanding of PIL.

Sadly, every celebration must come to an end. The last words of the Festival belonged to the driving force behind it: Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm. It was not before a big applause for her work and effort in organizing the event so quickly and perfectly, that everybody bid farewell.

The Private International Law Festival in Edinburgh was a resounding success. It was itself the perfect example of the multiple facets of Private International Law, that it set out to celebrate. The presentations not only covered an extensive number of different topics, but also displayed both traditional and novel methodologies. They put new topics on the agenda of the discipline, while also shedding new light on existing debates. In addition, the Festival combined truly global projects like the launch of the Guide to Global PIL with the focus on the Scottish perspectives on PIL. At the same time, it also provided the opportunity for intergenerational exchange, with many younger researchers presenting their work and joining the debate.

For many it was the first in person meeting with fellow scholars after the pandemic. The Festival provided a worthy setting for this return. Hopefully, it will become a regular event.

 

* Michael Cremer and Samuel Zeh are both research associates and PhD studens under Ralf Michaels at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg

Organization of American States (OAS): Registration is open for the XLVII Course on International Law (2022)

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The Organization of American States (OAS) has issued a call for applications for the XLVII Course on International Law, which will take place from 1 to 12 August 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro –  in Spanish and English (no interpretation services will be offered).

As indicated in the convocation: “For over forty years, the Course on International Law has offered attorneys and internationalists from around the Americas the opportunity to promote analysis, exchange ideas and generate an open discussion on relevant topics of international law in general and of the Inter-American System in particular. This, in addition to, an opportunity to expand their professional networks, develop their abilities in an inclusive, diverse, and multicultural environment.  Students may interact in an academic setting with the most prestigious jurists from the Americas and Europe, counting among them judges of international courts, members of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, professors of public and private international law from the Americas and Europe, diplomats, as well as officials of various international organizations.”

The deadline for applications is 17 June 2022 (at 5:00 pm U.S. Eastern Standard Time). The selected students will be notified at the end of June. Space is limited. Enrollment in the course and study materials are free of charge but students will be responsible for paying their transportation, food expenses and lodging costs. For more information, click here.

The current draft program includes speakers such as the president of UNIDROIT Governing Council Maria Chiara Malaguti and Vicepresident of the Inter-American Juridical Committee José Moreno Rodríguez. A draft program is available here.

Just released: ‘EU Cross-Border Succession Law’ (Bariatti, Viarengo and Villata, eds)

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EU Cross-Border Succession Law, edited by Stefania Bariatti, Ilaria Viarengo and Francesca C. Villata, was just released. Providing a comprehensive and dedicated analysis of the EU law on cross-border successions and benefitting from the insight of internationally renowned scholars, this volume is a welcome addition to the already thriving ‘Elgar European Law and Practice series’.

The abstract reads as follows:

With cross-border successions becoming increasingly common in the context of the European Union, this timely volume offers a systematic practical analysis of how cross-border successions should be treated, including an examination of which courts may establish jurisdiction over succession disputes and which law governs such disputes. Studying cross-border successions in the context of estate planning and in the opening and liquidation of a succession, the volume examines the specificities of the European Certificate of Succession, contextualising it within its interface with the national laws and practices of EU Member States.

Key Features:

  • Practical analysis of the provisions of the EU Succession Regulation
  • Consideration of issues at the intersection between cross-border successions and taxation
  • Analysis of the specificities of the European Certificate of Succession and its interface with national laws
  • Study of cross-border successions in the context of both estate planning and the opening and liquidation of a succession
  • Contextualization of the EU Succession Regulation in the framework of the national law and practice of several EU Member States

A comprehensive study of EU cross-border succession law with global reach, this volume is an invaluable source of reference and guidance for practitioners specialising in estate planning, family law and property law, including judges, notaries, tax specialists and lawyers. Scholars of European succession law and conflict of laws will also find this volume’s critical analysis an instrumental tool in their research.

EU Cross-Border Succession Law, Stefania Bariatti, Ilaria Viarengo and Francesca C. Villata (eds), Elgar European Law and Practice series (2022) 576 pp.