Views
Private International Law in Africa: Comparative Lessons
Written by Chukwuma Okoli, TMC Asser Institute, The Hague
About a decade ago, Oppong lamented a “stagnation” in the development of private international law in Africa. That position is no longer as true as it was then – there is progress. Though the African private international law community is small, the scholarship can no longer be described as minimal (see the bibliograhy at the end of this post). There is a growing interest in the study of private international law in Africa. Why is recent interest on the study of private international law [in Africa] important to Africa? What lessons can be learn’t from other non-African jurisdictions on the study of private international law? Read more
The Work of the HCCH and Australia: The HCCH Judgments Convention in Australian Law
Written by Michael Douglas, Mary Keyes, Sarah McKibbin and Reid Mortensen
Michael Douglas, Mary Keyes, Sarah McKibbin and Reid Mortensen published an article on how the implementation of the HCCH Judgments Convention would impact Australian private international law: ‘The HCCH Judgments Convention in Australian Law’ (2019) 47(3) Federal Law Review 420. This post briefly considers Australia’s engagement with the HCCH, and the value of the Judgments Convention for Australia.
Australia’s engagement with the HCCH
Australia has had a longstanding engagement with the work of the Hague Conference since it joined in 1973. In 1975, Dr Peter Nygh, a Dutch-Australian judge and academic, led Australia’s first delegation. His legacy with the HCCH continues through the Nygh Internship, which contributes to the regular flow of Aussie interns at the Permanent Bureau, some of whom have gone on to work in the PB. Since Nygh’s time, many Australian delegations and experts have contributed to the work of the HCCH. For example, in recent years, Professor Richard Garnett contributed to various expert groups which informed the development of the Judgments Project. Today, Andrew Walter is Chair of the Council on General Affairs and Policy. Read more
Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. v. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) 2019 SCC OnLine SC 677
By Mohak Kapoor
The recent decision of the apex court of Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. v. NHAI, has led to three notable developments: (1) it clarifies the scope of the “public policy” ground for setting aside an award as amended by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015, (2) affirms the prospective applicability of the act and (3) adopts a peculiar approach towards recognition of minority decisions. Read more
News
Conference on Recent Trends in the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the EU (Luxembourg, 18/19 January 2024)
Each year, the European Centre for Judges and Lawyers – EIPA Luxembourg hosts a conference on ‘Recent Trends in the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the EU’. The next edition will take place on 18 and 19 January 2024. The hosts have kindly shared the following information with us, which can also be found here.
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Online seminar on International Child Abduction & Muslim (Islamic law) States: 6 December
Reminder: on 6 December from 13-14.00 GMT the University of Aberdeen,’s Centre for Private International Law is organising the second online seminar in their series . The topic of the day is Reciprocating the return of abducted children Under The 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention with Muslim (Islamic Law) States. The speaker is Nazia Yaqub, who wrote her phd on this topic. The phd has been converted into a book in the Hart Private International Law series.
The focus of the seminar is the practical application and the challenges of the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention and the results of Nazia Yaqub’s empirical study, for which she interviewed young people in the abduction situations.
See more information about the seminar on the Centre of Private International Law’s website.
Nigeria ratifies the Singapore Convention on Mediation
On 27 November 2023, Nigeria became the thirteenth country/State to ratify the Singapore Convention on Mediation. The Convention will enter into force in Nigeria on 27 May 2024.
The Singapore Convention on Mediation facilitates international trade and promotes mediation as an alternative and effective method of resolving commercial disputes by providing an effective mechanism for the enforcement of international settlement agreements resulting from mediation.