German Federal Supreme Court refers questions to the CJEU relating to the concept of “habitual residence” under Art. 8 (a), (b) of the Rome III Regulation

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In its decision of 20 December 2023 (Case No. XII ZB 117/23), the German Federal Supreme Court has referred three questions to the CJEU relating to the interpretation of Art. 8 (a), (b) of the Rome III Regulation. The following is a convenience translation of the German press release:

Facts of the Case:

The spouses, German nationals, married in 1989. Initially, they lived together in Berlin since 2006. In June 2017 , the couple deregistered their domicile from the German population register (Melderegister) and moved to Stockholm, where the husband was employed at the German embassy. They nonetheless maintained their rented apartment in Berlin so that they could return as soon as the husband’s posting in Sweden was completed. However, when in September 2019 the husband was once again transferred to the embassy in Russia, the parties changed their place of residence from Stockholm straight to Moscow, where the couple lived in a flat on the embassy compound. Both spouses hold diplomatic passports.

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Opinion of Advocate General Szpunar of 11 January 2024 on the Scope of the Service Regulation in respect to service of process on a domestic subsidiary of a foreign defendant in cartel damages proceedings, C-632/22 – AB Volvo

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This case, C-632/22 – AB Volvo ./. Transsaqui SL, arises from a reference for a preliminary ruling of the Supreme Court of Spain (Tribunal Supremo). The core question is whether a claimant may serve process on a domestic subsidiary of a defendant in another Member State. In principle, the answer is simply no (absent special arrangements), because the subsidiary is a self-standing legal entity. If it is the foreign mother company that is the defendant, process must be served on her.

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Supreme Court of Canada to Hear Jurisdiction Appeal

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The Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave to appeal in Sinclair v Venezia Turismo. In light of the test for obtaining leave and the relatively low number of cases in which leave is granted, this offers at least some suggestion that the top court is interested in considering the legal issues raised in the case.

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Legal Accountability of Transnational Institutions: Special Issue of the King’s Law Journal

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Co-edited  by Rishi Gulati and Philippa Webb, the Special Issue of the King’s Law Journal, Volume 34, Issue 3 on “The Legal Accountability of Transnational Institutions: Past, Present and Future” is now out. The 9 articles in this Special Issue are authored by leading experts on the accountability of public international organisations (IOs), MNCs, as well as NGOs.

The Introduction is open access and discusses what may be learnt by comparing the legal accountability of IOs, MNCs and NGOs. In addition to the Introductory article by Rishi Gulati and Philippa Webb, the Special Issue consists of the following contributions. Assessing the Accountability Mechanism of Multilateral Development Banks Against Access to Justice: The Case of the World Bank (Edward Chukwuemeke Okeke); Holding International Organizations Accountable: Recent Developments in U.S. Immunities Law (David P. Stewart); Protecting Human Rights in UN Peacekeeping: Operationalising Due Diligence and Accountability (Nigel D. White); Nature and Scope of an International Organisation’s Due Diligence Obligations Under International Environmental Law: A Case Study of the Caribbean Development Bank (S. Nicole Liverpool Jordan); Civil Liability Under Sustainability Due Diligence Legislation: A Quiet Revolution? (Youseph Farah, Valentine Kunuji & Avidan Kent); Accountability of NGOs: The Potential of Business and Human Rights Frameworks for NGO Due Diligence (Rosana Garciandia); Arbitrating disputes with international organisations and some access to justice issues (August Reinisch); Transnational Procedural Guarantees – The Role of Domestic Courts (Dana Burchardt).

Short-term PostDoc Position(s) at Humboldt University Berlin

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The graduate resesarch programme DynamInt (Dynamic Integration Order) of Humboldt University is inviting international PostDocs to apply for a short-term (3 to 6 months), fully paid research stay in Berlin.

The PostDoc is supposed to pursue her/his research project in the field of European Law. She/he is also expected to interact with the group of young researchers, who all work on their dissertation projects within the thematic framework of harmonization and plurality tendencies in the EU

More information is available here.

 

Private International Law and Sustainable Development in Asia: REMINDER–Still Time to Submit Your Proposals

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The United Nations Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seems to have a blind spot for the role of private and private international law. That blind spot is beginning to be closed. A collective volume with global outlook published in 2021 addressed “the private side of transforming our world”: each of the 17 SDGs was discussed in one chapter of the book devoted to the specific relevance of private law and private international law. In 2022, the IACL-ASADIP conference in Asunción, Paraguay discussed sustainable private international law with regard to Latin America; the contributions published in 2023 in a special issue of the University of Brasilia Law Journal – Direito.UnB., V.7., N.3 (2023).

In this occasion the focus is on Asia. The Chinese Journal of Transnational Law invites submissions for its Vol. 2 Issue 2, to be published in 2025, engaging critically with the functions, methodologies and techniques of private international law in relation to sustainability from an Asian perspective, as well as in relation to the actual and potential contributions of private international law to the SDGs in Asia. Read more

Croatian Academy of Science and Art

Roundtable: Private international law and global trends, Zagreb, 22 January

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The Croatian Academy of Science and Art organises the roundtable titled “Private international law and global trends“, which will be held on Monday, 22 January 2024, at 11 h, in the premises of the Faculty of Law in Zagreb in Cirilometodska street, 4 (due to ongoing renovation of the Academy’s building which suffered damage in the earthquake of 2020, as visible in the photo when expanded). Attendance is open to all, but your intention to join should be communicated to Ms. Muhek at zmuhek@hazu.hr.

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Virtual Workshop (in German) on February 6: Heinz-Peter Mansel on Supply Chains and Conflict of Laws – Selected Issues

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On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, the Hamburg Max Planck Institute will host its 41st monthly virtual workshop Current Research in Private International Law at 11:00-12:30 (CET). Heinz-Peter Mansel (Universität zu Köln) will speak, in German, about

Supply Chains and Conflict of Laws – Selected Issues

The presentation will be followed by an 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.

Seminar Series – International Perspectives on Scots Law

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The University of Stirling is bringing together academics, practitioners and other stakeholders to present research examining the role of Scots law in the international legal landscape. It is hoped this will promote the ways in which Scots law can offer solutions to global legal challenges but also to offer critiques of the way in which Scots law can or must evolve to preserve and promote its value.

With many Law Schools diversifying their programme offerings beyond Scots law it is a critical time to explore the interactions between Scots law and other jurisdictions. It is also necessary to consider the relationships between the curriculum within Law Schools and the needs of legal practice.

Seminars will be delivered in hybrid format to enable busy stakeholders to engage with these discussions.

Please register for each event in the series individually here, and find out more about a seminar by emailing internationalisationofscotslaw@stir.ac.uk.

This seminar series has been generously funded by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education.

UK has signed the 2019 Judgments Convention

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On 12 January 2024, the United Kingdom has signed the 2019 Judgments Convention (Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters), as announced in the press release of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

This a milestone within the coming about of the worldwide framework for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and a welcome addition to the post-Brexit legal landscape.