Views – Page 5 – Conflict of Laws

REFLECTIONS ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN AFRICAN PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

February 10, 2026/in Views/by Chukwuma Okoli

I. INTRODUCTION

This is the second symposium relating to private international law in Africa to be hosted on this blog, following a series that has run consistently since 2 February 2026. The first symposium, which focused on private international law in Nigeria, took place on 14 December 2020 and was jointly hosted on Afronomics and this blog. It was organised by Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong and me.

Professor Beligh Elbalti and I are deeply grateful to the scholars who agreed to participate in this symposium at short notice, including Dr Solomon Okorley, Dr Theophilus Edwin Coleman, Dr Elisa Rinaldi, Miss Anam Abdul-Majid, Mr Kitonga Mulandi, Dr Boris Awa, and Dr Abubakri Yekini.

The idea for this second symposium originated with my dear colleague, Professor Beligh Elbalti, and I am thankful to him for involving me in the leadership and organisation of this project. The symposium finds its true genesis in a larger edited volume we are currently preparing on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Africa, which examines developments across no fewer than twenty-six African jurisdictions. Read more

Protection of Forced Heirs and International Public Policy

February 9, 2026/in Views/by Ivana Kunda

Written by Matteo Mangone, PhD candidate in Private Law at the University of Turin

Protection of Forced Heirs and International Public Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Germany and Italy in Light of the Bundesgerichtshof Judgment of 29 June 2022

1. The German Approach

The Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice), in its judgment of 29 June 2022, affirmed the following legal principle: the protection of mandatory heirs pertains to German public policy and, consequently, pursuant to Article 35 of EU Regulation No. 650/2012, it is possible to disregard the lex successionis designated under Article 22 of the same Regulation whenever its application does not concretely guarantee mandatory heirs a level of protection at least equivalent to that ensured by German inheritance law. Read more

Online Symposium on Recent Developments in African PIL (VII) – South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal orders the return of a child under the Hague Child Abduction Convention

February 8, 2026/in Views/by Béligh Elbalti

As part of the second online symposium on recent developments in African private international law, we are pleased to present the seventh an final contribution, kindly prepared by Solomon Okorley (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), which examines a decision of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal ordering the return of a child under the Hague Child Abduction Convention.

South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal Orders the Return of a Child under the Hague Child Abduction Convention: Marital Status of Parents not Important in Determining the Child’s Habitual Residence

Online Symposium on Recent Developments in African PIL (VI) – Proof of Foreign Law and the Fragility of Foreign Marriages in Ghanaian Courts

February 7, 2026/in Views/by Béligh Elbalti

As part of the second online symposium on recent developments in African private international law, we are pleased to present the sixth contribution, kindly prepared by Theophilus Edwin Coleman (University at Buffalo School of Law, New York (USA) & Senior Research Associate, RCPILEC, University of Johannesburg, South Africa).

From Daddy to Zaddy or Both? Proof of Foreign Law and the Fragility of Foreign Marriages in Ghanaian Courts – Reflections on Akosua Serwaah Fosuh v. Abusua-Panin Kofi Owusu & 2 Others, Suit No. GJ12/20/2026

Online Symposium on Recent Developments in African PIL (V) – Cross-border employment, competition and delictual liability merge in the South African High Court: Placement International Group Limited v Pretorius and Others

February 6, 2026/1 Comment/in Views/by Béligh Elbalti

As part of the second online symposium on recent developments in African private international law, we are pleased to present the fifth contribution, kindly prepared by Elisa Rinaldi (University of Pretoria, South Africa) on Cross-border employment, competition and delictual liability merge in the South African High Court: Placement International Group Limited v Pretorius and Others.

Online Symposium on Recent Developments in African PIL (IV) – Party Autonomy, Genuine Connection, Convenience, Costs, Privity, and Public Policy: The Kenyan High Court on Exclusive Jurisdiction Clauses

February 5, 2026/1 Comment/in Views/by Béligh Elbalti

As part of the second online symposium on recent developments in African private international law, we are pleased to present the fourth contribution, kindly prepared by Anam Abdul-Majid (Advocate and Head of Corporate and Commercial Department, KSM Advocates, Nairobi, Kenya) and Kitonga Mulandi (Lawyer, KSM Advocates, Nairobi, Kenya), on Party Autonomy, Genuine Connection, Convenience, Costs, Privity, and Public Policy: The Kenyan High Court on Exclusive Jurisdiction Clauses

Online Symposium on Recent Developments in African PIL (III) – Foreign Judgments in Mozambique through the Lens of the Enforcement of a Chinese Judgment: Liberal Practice in the Shadow of Statutory Rigidity

February 4, 2026/in Views/by Béligh Elbalti

As part of the second online symposium on recent developments in African private international law, we are pleased to present the third contribution, prepared by Béligh Elbalti (The University of Osaka, Japan), on Foreign Judgments in Mozambique through the Lens of the Enforcement of a Chinese Judgment: Liberal Practice in the Shadow of Statutory Rigidity.

From Deference to Objectivity: How Courts Are Rewriting the Commercial Reservation

February 3, 2026/1 Comment/in Views/by Tobias Lutzi

By Taimoor Raza Sultan, Stockholm University

Introduction

The 1958 New York Convention (‘NYC’) is widely regarded as international arbitration’s most significant achievement. Having been ratified by over 160 states, , establishing a credible system of enforcement for arbitral awards. Yet the commercial reservation under Article 1(3), which allows the reserving state to limit the application of the ‘Convention only to differences …. considered as commercial’ under its own national law, risks jeopardizing the uniformity of the convention. By domesticating the definition of commerciality, the reservation invites forum shopping and inconsistent enforcement. Read more

Online Symposium on Recent Developments in African PIL (II) – The Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments within the CEMAC Zone

February 3, 2026/in Views/by Béligh Elbalti

As part of the second online symposium on recent developments in African private international law, we are pleased to present the second contribution, kindly prepared by Boris Awa (Kigali Independent University, Rwanda), on The Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments within the CEMAC Zone.

Article V(1)(e) of the 1958 New York Convention in Light of a Decision of the Turkish Court of Cassation

February 2, 2026/in Views/by Zeynep Derya Tarman

Posted on behalf of Erdem Küçüker, an attorney-at-law registered at the Istanbul Bar Association and a private law LL.M student at Koç University. Mr. Küçüker specializes in commercial arbitration, arbitration-related litigation and commercial litigation, and acts as secretary to arbitral tribunals.

Article V of the 1958 New York Convention (“NYC”) lists the grounds of non-enforcement of a foreign arbitral award. Accordingly, Article V(1)(e) provides that when “[t]he award has not yet become binding on the parties, or has been set aside or suspended by a competent authority of the country in which, or under the law of which, that award was made” the award’s enforcement may be refused.

In 2024, the Turkish Court of Cassation quashed the lower courts’ decision that declared an International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association (“ICDR”) award as enforceable, stating that the courts should have further investigated whether the award is final, enforceable and binding (Court of Cassation, 11^th Civil Chamber, Docket No: E. 2022/5986, Decision No: K. 2024/2257, Date: 20.03.2024). This article explains the decision of the Turkish Court of Cassation and comments on the final, enforceable and binding character of an arbitral award in relation to Article V(1)(e) of the NYC. Read more