Following our previous post on the forum on the Brussels I review currently hosted by the website of the Italian Society of International Law (SIDI-ISIL), another comment has been added, on the amendments proposed by the Commission in respect of lis pendens and related actions. The contribution is authored by Fabrizio Marongiu Buonaiuti (University of Rome “La Sapienza”), who has recently published an extensive monograph on the regime of lis pendens and related actions in Italian law, in the European regulations and in other international instruments (Litispendenza e connessione internazionale. Strumenti di coordinamento tra giurisdizioni statali in materia civile, Napoli, 2008):

• Fabrizio Marongiu Buonaiuti, Litispendenza e connessione nella proposta di revisione del regolamento n. 44/2001.

A reading proposal for a Sunday afternoon: Julian Ku’s (Opinio Iuris) recent post on the Oklahoma’s prohibition on foreign and international law,  that threatens to spread to other States. The ban affects every legal precept of other nations or culture in Arizona’s proposal.

Following Martin’s post announcing the fourth Journal of Private International Law Conference which will take place in Milan on April 14-16, 2011, I am pleased to announce that the University of Milan has created a webpage gathering all practical details regarding the conference.

Among other information, the programme of the conference is available here, and the registration form here.

We had previously reported about this criminal action initiated for a book review against NYU law professor Joseph Weiler.

The trial took place last week in Paris. Weiler reports on it here.

Verdict on March 3rd.

I am delighted to announce the publication of a book that I have coauthored with Clotilde Normand, who practices at Baker & McKenzie in Paris, and Fanny Cornette, who teaches at the University of Rouen, on International Enforcement Law, or Cross-Border Debt Recovery (Droit international de l’exécution – Recouvrement des créances civiles et commerciales) .

The book is divided in two parts. Part one discusses how foreign judgments, arbitral awards, authentic acts and decisions of international courts can be declared enforceable in France. Part two explores how enforcement can then actually take place in France in an international context. In particular, it discusses attachments of assets and court injunctions backed with financial penalties.

More details can be found here.

Erin A. O’Hara, who is a professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School, and Larry E. Ribstein, who is a professor of law at the University of Illinois College of Law, have posted Exit and the American Illness on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This essay, prepared for a book on the effect of regulatory, liability, and litigation inefficiencies on the global competitive position of the U.S., focuses on the role of the US federal system. We show that, although multiple US states offer significant potential for jurisdictional choice to address misguided or inappropriate law, this system is only a partial solution to these problems and can itself be a source of bad law and excessive litigiousness. Federal law and enforcement of contractual choice-of-law, choice-of-court, and arbitration clauses provide some, but only partial, relief. As a result, choice of law and jurisdiction rules potentially expose firms that do business nationally or internationally to oppressive law in any of the US states. Without reform of the rules regarding jurisdictional choice the US is losing an opportunity to exploit the edge in international competition it might get from its federal system.

The Italian Society of International Law is currently holding a Forum on the Brussels I Review Proposal.

The Forum offers contributions of Italian scholars on the Proposal, in Italian. So far, two have been posted:

• Pietro Franzina, La garanzia dell’osservanza delle regole sulla competenza giurisdizionale nella proposta di revisione del regolamento “Bruxelles I”
• Antonio Leandro, La proposta per la riforma del regolamento “Bruxelles I” e l’arbitrato

Bernardo Maria Cremades Sanz Pastor, University professor and lawyer of the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados of Madrid, former Vice President of the London Court of International Arbitration, and member of the ICSID Panels of Conciliatiors and Arbitrators, is undoubtedly the Spanish best known and most recognised legal professional  in  international arbitration. He has been, and remains, the great master of arbitration in Spain; but his brilliant career is admired far beyond our borders, making him the best of  our ambassadors. It is therefore no surprise that the Spanish Arbitration Club has decided to pay tribute to his long career with the publication of a book that gathers the contributions of more than seventy experts in the field: prestigious  specialists from around the world that have paid homage  to Bernardo Cremades with studies, written primarily in English, that cover the most important fields of arbitration.

Click here to see the table of contents of the book (publishing house: La Ley. ISBN/ISSN: 978-84-8126-590-3)

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law will hold a conference on the Commission’s Brussels I Review Proposal of December 2010 on February 10th, 2011.

Speakers will include:

The Right Hon the Lord Mance, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Professor Alegría Borras, University of Barcelona, Spain; GEDIP
Andrew Dickinson, Professor in Private International Law, University of Sydney; Consultant, Clifford Chance LLP; Visiting Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law
Dr Pippa Rogerson, University of Cambridge
Professor Jonathan Harris, University of Birmingham; Serle Court, London
Professor Michael Bogdan, University of Lund, Sweden
Professor Andreas Furrer, University of Luzern, Switzerland
Alexander Layton QC, 20 Essex Street
Professor em Ulrich Magnus, University of Hamburg, Germany
Professor Luboš Tichý, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic

More details can be found here.

Law Yearbooks from OUP – Free Online Access until Feb. 28^th

Since the start of January 2011 the law yearbooks from Oxford University Press, previously available only in print, have become available online as well. This includes all volumes since 1996 but not the most recent ones which only published in December 2010.

To launch this initiative we are making all of this content freely available until the end of February 2011. To view, browse, download and search the material click on these links:

British Year Book of International Law

Yearbook of International Environmental Law

Yearbook of European Law

Current Legal Problems

The latest volume of each will become available to subscribers from April 2011. New content for future volumes will become available online to subscribers as it is processed thus dramatically reducing the time taken before an author’s work is publicly available.

For access after the end of February you will need a subscription. Please contact your librarian if you are not sure whether your institution has taken up a subscription.