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Book review: Research Handbook on International Abortion Law (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023)
Written by Mayela Celis
Undoubtedly, Abortion is a hot topic. It is discussed in the news media and is the subject of heated political debate. Indeed, just when one thinks the matter is settled, it comes up again. In 2023, Elgar published the book entitled “Research Handbook on International Abortion Law”, ed. Mary Ziegler (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2023). For more information, click here. Although under a somewhat misleading name as it refers to international abortion law, this book provides a wonderful comparative overview of national abortion laws as regulated by States from all the four corners of the world and internal practices, as well as an analysis of human rights law.
This book does not deal with the conflict of laws that may arise under this topic. For a more detailed discussion, please refer to the post Singer on Conflict of Abortion Laws (in the U.S.) published on the blog of the European Association of Private International Law.
In this book review, I will briefly summarise 6 parts of this book (excluding the introduction) and will provide my views at the end.
PIL and (De)coloniality: For a Case-by-Case Approach of the Application of Postcolonial Law in European States
Written by Sandrine Brachotte who obtained a PhD. in Law at Sciences Po, Paris and is a Guest Lecturer at UCLouvain (Saint-Louis, Brussels).
1. PIL and (De)coloniality in Europe
This post follows Susanne Gössl’s blog post series on ‘Colonialism and German PIL’ (especially s. 3 of post (1)) and offers a French perspective of the issue of PIL and (de)coloniality – not especially focused on French PIL but based on a francophone article to be published soon in the law and anthropology journal Droit et Culture. This article, called ‘For a decolonisation of law in the global era: analysis of the application of postcolonial law in European states’, is addressed to non-PIL-specialist scholars but builds on a European debate about PIL and (de)coloniality that has been nourished by scholars like Ralf Michaels, Horatia Muir Watt, Veronica Ruiz Abou-Nigm, as well as by Maria Ochoa, Roxana Banu, and Nicole Štýbnarová, notably at the occasion of the 2022 Edinburgh conference (reported about on this blog, where I had the chance the share a panel with them in relation to my PhD dissertation (see a short presentation on the EAPIL blog)).
The Dubai Supreme Court on the Enforcement of Canadian (Ontario) Enforcement Judgment
Can an enforcement judgment issued by a foreign court be recognized and enforced in another jurisdiction? This is a fundamental question concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The answer appears to be relatively straightforward: “No”. Foreign enforcement judgments are not eligible to be recognized and enforced as they are not decisions on the merits (see in relation with the HCCH 2019 Convention, F Garcimartín and G Saumier, Explanatory Report (HCCH 2020) para. 95, p. 73; W Hau “Judgments, Recognition, Enforcement” in M Weller et al. (eds.), The HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention: Cornerstones, Prospects, Outlooks (Hart 2023) 25). This is usually referred to as the “prohibition of double exequatur” or, following the French adage: “exequatur sur exequatur ne vaut”. This question was recently presented to the Dubai Supreme Court (DSC), and its decision in the Appeal No. 1556 of 16 January 2024 offers some useful insights into the status foreign enforcement (exequatur) decisions in the UAE.
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Review of Afifah Kusumadara, Indonesian Private International Law, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2021, 288 pp, hb $140
After reading and reviewing a thought-provoking book on the choice of law in international commercial contracts in Indonesia last year, I decided to delve further into the subject by picking up a book on Indonesian private international law. The book, titled Indonesian Private International Law, is part of the prestigious Hart series on Private International Law in Asia. Authored by Dr. Afifah Kusumadara, with contributions from a team of Indonesian scholars (hereafter referred to as “the authors”), this work was published during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spanning 226 pages across six chapters, the book aims to be the leading English-language text on private international law in Indonesia. This review provides an overview of its content.
Review of Kazuaki Nishioka, Treatment of Foreign Law in Asia, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2023, 327 pp, hb £117
It is a great pleasure to review the book titled Treatment of Foreign Law in Asia, edited by Kazuaki Nishioka. This volume contains 17 chapters, including an introduction and conclusion, spanning 298 pages (excluding the series editor’s preface, table of contents, bibliography and index). The book examines 15 Asian jurisdictions, representing a variety of legal systems, including civil law (China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand), common law (Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, and India), and mixed jurisdictions (Philippines and Sri Lanka). Read more
Praxis des Internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts (IPRax) 5/2024: Abstracts
The latest issue of the „Praxis des Internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts“ (IPRax) features the following articles: Read more