Views
Genocide by Expropriation – New Tendencies in US State Immunity Law for Art-Related Holocaust Litigations
On 10 July 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rendered its judgment in the matter of Alan Philipps et al. v. the Federal Republic of Germany and the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz.
This case involves a claim by heirs of Holocaust victims for restitution of the „Welfenschatz“ (Guelph Treasure), a collection of medieval relics and devotional art housed for generations in the Cathedral of Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany. This treasure is now on display at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin (Museum of Decorative Arts) which is run by the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz. The value of the treasure is estimated to amount to USD 250 million (according to the claim for damages raised in the proceedings). Read more
Asser’s Enduring Vision: The HCCH Celebrates its 125th Anniversary
By the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law
On 12 September 1893, Tobias Asser, Dutch Jurist, Scholar and Statesman, realised a vision: he opened the first Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Today, exactly 125 years later, the HCCH celebrates Asser’s vision and the occasion of this First Session with a solemn ceremony in the presence of his Majesty The King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. Read more
The race is on: German reference to the CJEU on the interpretation of Art. 14 Rome I Regulation with regard to third-party effects of assignments
By Prof. Dr. Peter Mankowski, University of Hamburg
Sometimes the unexpected simply happens. Rome I aficionados will remember that the entire Rome I project was on the brink of failure since Member States could not agree on the only seemingly technical and arcane issue of the law applicable to the third-party effects of assignments of claims. An agreement to disagree saved the project in the last minute, back then. Of course, this did not make the issue vanish – and this issues concerns billion euro-markets in the financial industry. Read more
News
Virtual Workshop (in English) on October 10: Diego Fernández Arroyo on “Transnational Commercial Arbitration as Private International Law Feature”
On Tuesday, October 10, 2023, the Hamburg Max Planck Institute will host its 37th monthly virtual workshop Current Research in Private International Law at 11:00-12:30 (CEST). Diego P. Fernández Arroyo (Sciences Po Law School) will speak, in English, about
Transnational Commercial Arbitration as Private International Law Feature
A significant part of private international law (PrIL) disputes is nowadays solved by means of arbitration. At the same time, the range of arbitrable issues has been growing up for decades. Consequently, arbitration is no longer ignored by PrIL scholars, who, nevertheless, hesitate about how to deal with it. Many of them are only attracted by the fact that arbitral tribunals are often confronted to ordinary problems of determining the law applicable to a particular issue. Through the lens of this classical-PrIL approach, they identify sometimes conflict-of-law rules in arbitration instruments. Without denying any interest to this option, we will try to provide a more comprehensive view, starting by revising the very respective notion of arbitration and PrIL as well as their interaction, and concluding to challenge the excessive role played by the seat of the arbitration.
The presentation will be followed by 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.
Out Now: Choice of Law and Recognition in Asian Family Law
A book edited by Anselmo Reyes, Wilson Lui, and Kazuaki Nishioka on Choice of Law and Recognition in Asian Family Law has just been published in the Hart Studies in Private International Law -Asia.
The blurb read as follows:
This thematic volume in the series Studies in Private International Law – Asia outlines the general choice of law and recognition rules relating to family matters of 15 Asian jurisdictions: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. The book examines pressing questions and proposes ways in which their systems may be reformed. A concluding chapter considers the extent to which Asian cross-border family law systems can and should be harmonised.
The book provides a comprehensive analysis of cross-border family law challenges, including child surrogacy, child abduction, the recognition of same-sex unions, the recovery of maintenance, and the regulation of intercountry adoption. These are among the matters now testing Asian institutions of private international law and acting as forces for their modernisation.
With contributions by leading Asian private international law experts, the book proposes necessary reforms for each of the jurisdictions analysed as well as for Asia as a whole.
Out Now: Treatment of Foreign Law in Asia
A book edited by Kazuaki Nishioka on Treatment of Foreign Law in Asia has just been published in the Hart Studies in Private International Law -Asia.
The blurb read as follows:
How do Asian courts ascertain, interpret, and apply a foreign law as the law governing the merits of the case? What should judges do if parties do not raise or disagree on the content of foreign law? This thematic volume in the Studies in Private International Law – Asia series analyses the treatment of foreign law before judicial authorities, that is, how the courts of Asian states deal with the proof of foreign law in court litigation involving cross-border elements.
The individual chapters cover 15 Asian jurisdictions: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India.
The Introduction and Conclusion examine similarities and differences in the approaches taken by the 15 Asian states with a view to assessing the extent to which those approaches are consistent or different from each other. The book also puts forward suggestions for harmonising differing approaches, especially between Asian common law and civil law states.
The book is a one-stop reference guide on the treatment of foreign law in Asia and will be indispensable to judges, practitioners, and scholars not just in Asia, but worldwide.