Lancaster Workshop on Challenges in Contemporary International Litigation – 21 June 2023

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The University of Lancaster has organised a workshop on Challenges in Contemporary International Litigation on Wednesday, 21 June 2023, 12.30 – 5 pm UK time (in person and online via Teams). Some well established and emerging experts will discuss cutting edge issues of practical significance in private international law (broadly understood).

The programme for the workshop is as follows:

12.30 pm

Welcome remarks by Dr Mukarrum Ahmed and Professor David Milman (Co-chairs – University of Lancaster)

Professor Paul Beaumont FRSE (University of Stirling), ‘HCCH Jurisdiction Project’

Professor Paul Torremans (University of Nottingham), ‘CJEU case law on Article 7.2 Brussels I Regulation and its application to online copyright cases’

Dr Kirsty Hood KC (Discussant)

1.45 pm – 3.00 pm

Professor Zheng Sophia Tang (Wuhan University), ‘The challenge of emerging technology to International litigation’

Professor Veronica Ruiz Abou-Nigm (University of Edinburgh), ‘Sustainability and Private International Law’

Dr Mihail Danov (University of Exeter), ‘Private International Law and Competition Litigation in a Global Context’

3.00 pm – 3.15 pm Break

3.15 pm – 5.00 pm

Dr Jayne Holliday (University of Stirling), ‘The non-recognition of transnational divorces’

Dr Chukwuma Okoli (University of Birmingham), ‘Implied Jurisdiction Agreement in International Commercial Contracts’

Dr Michiel Poesen (University of Aberdeen), ‘The interaction between UK private international law and liability arising out of the use of artificial intelligence’

Mr Denis Carey (University of Lancaster), ‘The Consultation on the Reform of the Arbitration Act 1996’

The workshop is free to attend, but registration is required via email. A Teams link will be provided for remote attendees.

No Recognition in Switzerland of the Removal of Gender Information according to German Law

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This note has been kindly provided by Dr. Samuel Vuattoux-Bock, LL.M. (Kiel), University of Freiburg (Germany).

On 8 June 2023, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgericht) pronounced a judgment on the removal of gender markers of a person according to German Law and denied the recognition of this removal in Switzerland. Read more

Regional Developments in International Law in Africa and Latin America – Annual Meeting of the German Branch of the ILA, Frankfurt, 7 July 2023

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This year’s annual meeting of the German Branch of the International Law Association will take place at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt (Main) on Friday, 7 July 2023. The subject will be “Regional Developments in International Law in Africa and Latin America”. The list of distinguished speakers includes Prof. Dr. Thoko Kaime, University of Bayreuth, Alan Diego Vogelfanger, LL.M., University of Bonn/Universidad de Buenos Aires, Kholofelo Kugler, LL.B., M.A., University of Lucerne (Switzerland), and Priv.-Doz. Dr. Jan Peter Schmidt, Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. The full program can be found here. For registration, please click here. A passive attendance via Zoom will be possible.

Conference Sustaining Access to Justice, 19-20 Oct 2023 – registration open

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On 19-20 October 2023 the Conference Sustaining Access to Justice in Europe: New Avenues for Costs and Funding will take place at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Speakers from academia, policy, business and consumer associations from Europe, the US and Asia will discuss developments in funding, including third-party litigation funding and crowdfunding, collective actions, public interest litigation, ADR and ODR and entrepreneurial lawyering.

Description

Access to civil justice is of paramount importance for enforcing citizens’ rights. At the heart access to civil justice lies litigation funding and cost management. Yet, over the past decades, access to justice has been increasingly put under pressure due to retrenching governments, high costs of procedure, and inefficiency of courts and justice systems. Within this context, the funding of litigation in Europe seems to be shifting from public to private sources. Private actors and innovative business models have emerged to provide new solutions to the old problem of financial barriers to access to justice.

With the participation of academics, policymakers, practitioners, academics and representatives of civil society from all over Europe and beyond, the conference seeks to delve deeper into the financial implications of access to justice and the different ways to achieve sustainable civil justice systems in Europe. The topics addressed in this international academic conference include different methods of financing dispute resolution and regulating costs, such as third-party funding, crowdfunding, blockchain technologies, public interest litigation, developments in ADR/ODR, new business models of legal professionals as well as law and economics perspectives on litigation funding.

Program, registration and call for papers

The full program is available here and further information and registration is available here.

A call for papers for early career researchers is available here; deadline is 7 July 2023.

This conference is organised by Erasmus School of Law in the context of the NWO Vici Project: ‘Affordable Access to Justice’, funded by the Dutch Research Council.

Private International Law and the Voices of Children

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Written by Christina Shin, University of Sydney Law School

On 1 June 2023, International Children’s Day, an online webinar discussing the issue of children’s protection in private international law (PIL) was organized in collaboration with conflictoflaw.net and American Society of International Law Private International Interest Group at the Sydney Law School Centre for Asian and Pacific Law (CAPLUS). In the first part of the webinar, five experts were invited to share their views on the status quo, challenges, and potential solutions to protect the welfare of children in the international and transnational context. The second part of the webinar involved a roundtable discussion among the experts. This event was moderated by Dr. Jeanne Huang, Associate Professor at the Sydney Law School and CAPLUS co-director. The guest speakers were as follows:

Read more

Today the Mexican National Code of Civil and Family Procedure has been published in the Official Gazette

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On 6 June 2023, the Mexican National Code of Civil and Family Procedure has been passed by decree issued by the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Indeed, after many years of stagnation, the National Code has finally been published today in the Mexican Federal Official Gazette. See here. It will enter into force tomorrow (see article 1 of the transitory articles).

This is a groundbreaking development because it will gradually replace the states codes of civil and family procedure in Mexico, harmonising procedural law in all 32 Mexican states. A specific procedure has been foreseen for the way in which it will be adopted in the Mexican states (see article 2 of the transitory articles).

There are many interesting provisions for Private International Law lawyers, we will be preparing a brief summary, which will be published here. By way of example, see the provisions on international child abduction: articles 1150-1161.

Read more

HCCH Monthly Update: May 2023

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Conventions & Instruments

On 12 May 2023, Canada deposited its instrument of accession to the 1961 Apostille Convention. This accession marked a historical milestone: the 1000th treaty action relating to an HCCH Convention or Protocol. The 1961 Apostille Convention, which now has 125 Contracting Parties, will enter into force for Canada on 11 January 2024. More information is available here.

On 16 May 2023, North Macedonia signed the 2019 Judgments Convention. The Convention, which currently has 28 Contracting Parties, will enter into force in September 2023, and for North Macedonia only after the deposit of an instrument of ratification (pursuant to Art. 28(2) of the Convention). More information is available here.

On 16 May 2023, Singapore deposited its instrument of accession to the 1965 Service Convention. The Convention, which now has 81 Contracting Parties, will enter into force for Singapore on 1 December 2023 subject to the Article 28 procedure. More information is available here.

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Last minute registration welcome: “The HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention: Cornerstones – Prospects – Outlook”, 9 and 10 June 2023, University of Bonn

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Just a quick note to assure you that last minute registration is welcome. All information is available here.

Friendly reminder: Lecture on Private International Law and Voices of Children, organized in cooperation with ConflictofLaws.net

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This is a friendly reminder to our co-organised event on next Thursday, free admissions can be registered here.

Online event

When making decisions, adults should think about how their decisions will affect children. Recent years have witnessed, in private international law cases and legislation, the protection of children is increasingly mingled with gender, indigenous issues, refugees, violence, war, surrogacy technology, etc. This is evidenced by the US Supreme Court 2022 judgment Golan v. Saada, the Australian case Secretary, Department of Communities & Justice v Bamfield, the 2023 German Constitutional Court decision, the Chinese Civil Code, the Australia Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Amendment (Family Violence) Regulations 2022, and developments at the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH Children Conventions) and the United Nations (Convention on the Rights of the Child and its additional Protocols).

On this International Children’s Day, let us join this CAPLUS webinar in cooperation with conflictoflaws.net and American Society of International Law Private International Law Interest Group to hear voices of children in private international law.

Read more

Recent Article from Uniform Law Review

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Just late yesterday, Uniform Law Review  published an interesting article that is of significance and relevance to comparative law and conflict of laws. It is titled EE Clotilde, “The reception of OHADA Law in anglophone Cameroon: appraisals and proposals” The abstract reads as follows:

This article assesses the extent to which the law under the Organisation pour l’Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires (OHADA) has been received in anglophone Cameroon after 26 years of existence, with specific focus on the Fako judicial division.1 With regard to the tenets of qualitative research, it is observed that, from the viewpoint of the legal reception technique, it is indisputable that OHADA law has been infused into the English-speaking legal system in Cameroon through legal techniques of transposition. Through the use of interviews and questionnaires as our research tools, it is revealed that this reception remains limited because most judicial actors still find it difficult to implement legislation that they have not yet mastered. Linguistic issues and the difficulties faced in accessing the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration based in Ivory Coast in Abidjan on OHADA-related matters are serious obstacles to its effective implementation. This situation has been worsened by the poor articulation of clichés that tend to radically oppose OHADA law compared to common law principles. This article tries to deconstruct the ideas received as it shows some of the similarities in the substantive law under the two systems and consequently advocates on this basis the idea that efforts be made to familiarize common law jurists with the content of OHADA law. The article recommends that linguistic issues be tackled by OHADA lawmakers right from the stage of legal drafting by using drafting techniques that will reduce the feeling that the common law is being neglected. For uniform acts yet to be translated, the translation process should associate experts in comparative law to enable the use of appropriate legal language in translation from French into English. Only such efforts will entice the common law African countries that are still hesitating to join OHADA law and, by so doing, will render investment in Africa more attractive.