Views
Belgian Court of Cassation and Ryanair’s forum clauses
On 8 February 2019 the Belgain Court of Cassation decided the case Happy Flights v Ryanair. The Dutch version of the decision is available here.
At issue was the validity of the clause in Ryanair’s general terms and conditions that the Irish courts have jurisdiction over disputes. The Court of Cassation quashed the decision of the Commercial Court of Brussels, which had considered only the formal validity of the choice-of-court clause.
The Court of Cassation confirmed that the consumer protection provisions of Brussels Ia do not apply (the contracts concern transport). It further found that according to Art. 25(1) of Brussels Ia the substantive validity of the clause (in a non-negotiated contract) was subject to Irish law (specifically the Irish implementation in Act 27/1995 of Directive 93/13/EEG on unfair terms in consumer contracts). The Court did not explicitly refer to Irish private international law (according to Consideration 20 of Brussels Ia), but directly to Act 27/1995.
It sent the case back to the Commercial Court of Leuven for a new assessment.
Anti-Semitism – Responses of Private International Law
Prof. Dr. Marc-Philippe Weller and Markus Lieberknecht, Heidelberg University, have kindly provided us with the following blog post which is a condensed abstract of the authors’ article in the Juristenzeitung (JZ) 2019, p. 317 et seqq. which explores the topic in greater detail and includes comprehensive references to the relevant case law and literature.
In one of the most controversial German judgments of 2018, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt held that the air carrier Kuwait Airways could refuse transportation to an Israeli citizen living in Germany because fulfilling the contract would violate an anti-Israel boycott statute enacted by Kuwait in 1964. The Israeli citizen had validly booked a flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok with a layover in Kuwait City. However, Kuwait Airways hindered the Israeli passenger from boarding the aircraft in Frankfurt. According to the judgment of the Frankfurt Court, Kuwait Airways acted in line with the German legal framework: specific performance of the contract of carriage was deemed to be impossible because of the Kuwait boycott statute. Read more
Regulating International Organisations: What Role for Private International Law?
Written by Dr Rishi Gulati, LSE Fellow in Law, London School of Economics; Barrister, Victorian Bar, Australia
The regulation of public international organisations (IOs) has been brought into sharp focus following the landmark US Supreme Court ruling in Jam v International Finance Corporation586 US (2019) (Jam). Jam is remarkable because the virtually absolute immunities enjoyed by some important IOs have now been limited in the US (where several IOs are based), giving some hope that access to justice for the victims of institutional action may finally become a reality. Jam has no doubt reinvigorated the debate about the regulation of IOs. This post calls for private international law to play its part in that broader debate. After briefly setting out the decision in Jam, a call for a greater role for private international law in the governance of IOs is made. Read more
News
Symposium for Trevor Hartley at LSE on 27 October 2023
Written by Ugljesa Grusic, Associate Professor at University College London, Faculty of Laws
Jacco Bomhoff (LSE), Ugljesa Grusic and Manuel Penades (KCL) are pleased to announce that the LSE Law School will host a symposium to celebrate the scholarly work of emeritus professor Trevor C Hartley.
Trevor has long been one of the world’s most distinguished scholars of Conflict of Laws (Private International Law), continuing a tradition started at the LSE by Professor Otto Kahn-Freund. For many decades, he has been at the forefront of developments in the field. As a prominent critic, notably of the Court of Justice’s efforts to unify European private international law. But also as an active participant in projects of legislation and modernization. And as author of authoritative treatises and clear and accessible student textbooks.
Book Launch: International Child Abduction, Mayela Celis (Madrid: Dykinson, 2023) on 5 October 2023 (in Spanish)
The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) is holding a webinar on 5 October 2023 at 2:30 pm (Mexico City time), 10:30 pm (Europe, CEST time) to launch the book entitled:
International Child Abduction: jurisprudential, doctrinal and critical study of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention. Key concepts and solutions to application problems (Madrid: Dykinson, 2023) 604 pp.
For more information about the book, see our previous post here.
The book will be presented by the author and the following AMEDIP members: Professors Jorge Alberto Silva Silva and Nuria González Martín, as well as the family law attorney María Virginia Aguilar.
The webinar will be held in Spanish and the details are:
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89498755044?pwd=NmFjQjAxZ2pSTW9tNVlqTC81NnM1dz09
Meeting ID: 894 9875 5044
Password: AMEDIP
Participation is free of charge.
This event will also be streamed live: https://www.facebook.com/AmedipMX
Symposium on Reparation for “Crimes of the Past” in Strasbourg (Oct. 19–20)
Written by Dr. Delphine Porcheron, Associate Professor at the University of Strasbourg Law Faculty
On October 19 and 20, the University of Strasbourg is organizing a symposium on Reparation for “Crimes of the Past”.
Mass crimes, deportations, spoliations, colonial exploitation, slavery… The “crimes of the past” are first known to us as historical facts. Their protagonists have mostly disappeared; they have been documented by historians; almost all of them are mentioned in school textbooks. They have become part of our collective memory as disastrous episodes of a bygone past.