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Paris, the Jurisdiction of Choice?
On January 17th, the President of the Paris Commercial Court (Tribunal de commerce) inaugurated a new international division.
The new division, which is in fact the 3rd division of the court (3ème Chambre), is to be staffed with nine judges who speak foreign languages, and will therefore be able to assess evidence written in a foreign language. For now, the languages will be English, German and Spanish, as one juge speaking Spanish and two speaking German are currently on the court.
In an interview to the Fondation de droit continental (Civil law initiative), the President of the Court explained that the point was to make French justice more competitive and attract international cases. It also made clear that France was following Germany’s lead, where several international divisions were established in 2009 in Hamburg and Cologne.
French Commercial Courts
It should be pointed out to readers unfamiliar with the French legal system that French commercial courts are not staffed with professional judges, but with members of the business community working part-time at the court (and for free). In Paris, however, many of these judges work in the legal department of their company, and are thus fine lawyers.
Also, French commercial courts (and French civil courts generally) virtually never hear witnesses, so the issue of the language in which they may address the court does not arise.
Some issues
So, the new international division will be able to read documents in several foreign languages. However, nothing suggests that parties or lawyers will be able either to speak, or to write pleadings, in any other language than French. Lawyers arguing these cases will still need to file their pleadings in French, and thus to translate them in English beforehand for their clients. Furthermore, the interview of the Court’s President seems to suggest that using a foreign language will not be a right for the parties. Quite to the contrary, it seems that it will not be possible if one of the parties disagrees, and demands documents be translated in French.
Will that be enough to attract additional commercial cases to Paris?
I wonder whether introducing class actions in French civil procedure would have been more efficient in this respect.
For the full interview of the Court’s President, see after the jump.
News
Lecture on Private International Law and Voices of Children, organized in cooperation with ConflictofLaws.net
Online event
When making decisions, adults should think about how their decisions will affect children. Recent years have witnessed, in private international law cases and legislation, the protection of children is increasingly mingled with gender, indigenous issues, refugees, violence, war, surrogacy technology, etc. This is evidenced by the US Supreme Court 2022 judgment Golan v. Saada, the Australian case Secretary, Department of Communities & Justice v Bamfield, the 2023 German Constitutional Court decision, the Chinese Civil Code, the Australia Family Law (Child Abduction Convention) Amendment (Family Violence) Regulations 2022, and developments at the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH Children Conventions) and the United Nations (Convention on the Rights of the Child and its additional Protocols).
On this International Children’s Day, let us join this CAPLUS webinar in cooperation with conflictoflaws.net and American Society of International Law Private International Law Interest Group to hear voices of children in private international law.
Speakers
- Ms. Anna Mary Coburn
After 22-years of public service as a U.S. Department of State Attorney-Advisor for Children’s Issues as well as a USAID Regional Legal Advisor/Senior Advisor for Children/Youth in Conflict, Anna has transitioned to practicing international family law with a focus on child rights cases and issues.
- Mr. Philippe Lortie
Philippe is co-head of the International Family and Child Protection Law Division at the Hague Conference on Private International Law Permanent Bureau and has more than 30 years’ experience in the field of child protection.
- Dr. Miranda Kaye
Dr Miranda Kaye is an academic at the Faculty of Law in the University of Technology Sydney in Australia and a member of Hague Mothers, a project aiming to end the injustices created by the Hague Child Abduction Convention. She also has experience in the public service (Law Commission of England and Wales) and as a practicing solicitor (family law in the UK).
- Professor Lukas Rademacher
Lukas is a Professor of Private Law, Private International Law, and Comparative Law in Kiel, Germany. He studied law at the Universities of Düsseldorf and Oxford, and received his PhD at the University of Münster. He wrote his postdoctoral thesis at the University of Cologne.
- Ms. Haitao Ye
Haitao is a lawyer at the Shanghai Office of the Beijing Dacheng Law LLP specializing in marriage and family dispute resolution, family wealth inheritance and management. She is a former experienced judge in civil and commercial trials at the Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court in China.
Moderators/commentators
• Dr. Jie (Jeanne) Huang (Associate Professor at Sydney Law School, University of Sydney)
Thursday 1 June, 6-7.30pm AEST
(4-5.30am Washington D.C./9-10:30am London/10-11.30am the Hague/4-5.30pm Beijing)
Free admissions can be registered here.
This event is proudly co-presented by the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney, conflictoflaws.net and the American Society of International Law Private International Law Interest Group.
Pax Moot Court Competition Peter Nygh round: the results
The Peter Nygh Round (2023) of the Pax Moot court was held in Antwerp from 3 to 5 May – the preliminary days at the University of Antwerp and the semi-finals and finals at the Antwerp court.
This year saw the highest number of registered teams yet for the PAX Competition (37 teams). 28 teams made it to the oral rounds. 48 judges, lawyers and academics invited took up the role as judge in the competition.
The winner of the oral rounds was the University of Ljubljana, with the University of Vienna as runner-up. The teams of the University of Maastricht and Singapore Management University made it up to the semi-finals.
The University of Vienna won the prize for the best written memorials, with the University of Ghent in second place and the University of Sofia third.
Best pleader was Matej Iglicar (University of Ljubljana), followed by Maximilian Murtinger and in third place Gustav Kirchauer (both of the University of Vienna).
The European Commission co-funds the competition.
Next year’s Pax Moot court competition will take place from 24 to 26 April in Ljubljana.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) – International Aspects: Event on 17 May
On May 17th, 2023, the Department of Law of the University of Urbino (Italy), will host an event titled “The Digital Services Act (DSA): International Aspects – Aspects Internationaux” co-organized with the Centre de recherche de droit international privé et du commerce international de l’Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas and the University of Malaga.
The DSA (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065), submitted along with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), has been approved on October 19th, 2022, and shall apply from February 17th, 2024. It will amend the Directive 2000/31/EC (Directive on Electronic Commerce) and introduce a wide-ranging set of new obligations on digital platforms regarding illegal content, transparent advertising and disinformation.
Confirmed speakers include Marie-Elodie ANCEL (Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas, CRDI), Maria Isabel TORRES CAZORLA (University of Malaga), Basile DARMOIS (Université de Brest), Federico FERRI (Université de Bologne); Valère NDIOR (Université de Brest, IUF), Edoardo Alberto ROSSI (University of Urbino), Massimo RUBECHI (University of Urbino).
The main topics that will be discussed include the European legal framework within the DSA has been adopted, the conflict of laws methods, online content moderation, the cooperation between relevant national and European authorities and the available remedies in case of violation of the rights of users.
The event can be followed both face-to-face and remotely, on the Zoom platform.
See here for information about the program and how to register