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US Ninth Circuit rules in favor of Spain in a decades-long case concerning a painting looted by the Nazis

This interesting case comment has been kindly provided to the blog by Nicolás Zambrana-Tévar, LLM, PhD, KIMEP University

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has found in favor of Spain as defendant in a property case spanning several decades. A panel of three judges has unanimously ruled that, applying California conflict of law rules, Spain has a stronger interest than the claimants in the application of its own domestic law, including its own rules on prescriptive acquisition of property and the statute of limitations, thus confirming the ownership of a stolen painting, now owned by a Spanish museum.

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Colonialism and German PIL (2) – German and European Structures and Values

This post is part of a series regarding Colonialism and the general structure of (German) Private International Law, based on a presentation I gave in spring 2023. See the introduction

The Convergence of Judicial Rules between Mainland China and Hong Kong has Reached a Higher Level

By Du Tao* and Jingwei Qiu**

With the increasingly close personnel exchanges and deepening economic cooperation between Mainland China and Hong Kong, the number and types of legal disputes between the two regions have also increased. Against the backdrop of adhering to the “One Country, Two Systems” principle and the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the judicial and legal professions of the two regions have worked closely together and finally signed “the Arrangement on Reciprocal Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (hereinafter referred to as “REJ Arrangement”) in January 2019, which will come into effect in January 2024. REJ Arrangement aims to establish an institutional arrangement for the courts of the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to recognize and enforce judgments in civil and commercial cases, achieve the “circulation” of judgments in civil and commercial cases, reduce the burden of repeated litigation, and save judicial resources in the two regions.

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News

China’s Cause of Foreign-related Rule of Law

(drafted by Liu Zuozhen and revised by Tu Guangjian)

In recent years, China has put much emphasis on foreign-related rule of law. It is believed that enhancing the construction of foreign-related rule of law is vital for promoting the nation’s comprehensive development and rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernization, high-level opening up, and responding to external risks. China’s top legislature has prioritized and made significant progress in foreign-related legislations across various legal domains, including civil, commercial, economic, administrative, and procedural laws. Two salient examples are the Law on Foreign Relations of the People’s Republic of China and the Foreign State Immunity Law of the People’s Republic of China, both of which were adopted in 2023 and have now entered into force.

Against this background, many official and academic activities have been launched and conducted for foreign-related rue of law. Across the country, in quite a few of universities, research institutes for foreign-related rule of law are established at various levels, some of which are even higher than the faculties.

With China’s increasing foreign trade, the influx of foreign-invested enterprises, and the expansion of Chinese enterprises abroad, there is, of course, a growing demand for foreign-related legal services as well. In Guangzhou, the Capital city of Guangdong Province, which has always been the forefront of the opening-up policy and international business center, with approval from the Guangzhou Municipal Justice Bureau, a local law firm, namely Guangdong Everwin Law Office even established its own foreign-related legal service research institute. It is not common for a law firm to have an internal research institute in China and many more might be on the way to come.

It seems that the Chinese story of foreign-related rule of law has just started and not reached its climax yet.

Praxis des Internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts (IPRax) 4/2024: Abstracts

The latest issue of the „Praxis des Internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts“ (IPRax) features the following articles:

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AMEDIP: Annual seminar to take place from 23 to 25 October 2024 (in Spanish)

The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) will be holding its annual XLVII Seminar entitled “The teaching, research and promotion of private international law in Mexico” (La enseñanza, investigación y difusión del Derecho Internacional Privado en México) from 23 to 25 October 2024. The venue of the seminar will be the Universidad Panamericana (campus Guadalajara, Mexico) – and online.

Potential speakers are invited to submit a paper in Spanish, English or Portuguese by 29 July 2024. Papers must comply with the criteria established by AMEDIP and will be evaluated accordingly. Selected speakers will be required to give their presentations preferably in Spanish as there will be no interpretation services but some exceptions may be made by the organisers upon request for presentations in English and Portuguese. For more information on the requirements, click here

Contributions will be published in the Revista Perspectiva Jurídica of the Universidad Panamericana.

There is a fee for participation both in person and online. For in-person participation, click here. For online participation, please contact seminario@amedip.org.