image_pdfimage_print

Views

Nothing Found

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria

News

Gender and PIL (GaP): A New Transdisciplinary Research Project

written by Ivana Isailovic & Ralf Michaels 

We are excited to announce the launch of a new transdisciplinary research project,  Gender and Private International Law (GaP), based at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (MPI). 

This project is born out of a sense of scholarly and political urgency in a rapidly shifting world, where both conversations about gender equality and a powerful backlash against gender and LGBTQI justice are on the rise. Unlike other legal fields, private international law (“PIL”) has for the most part been absent from this conversation, with some rare (here, here & here) exceptions (see also the panel on women & PIL). The field is almost never analyzed using the concept of ‘gender’, or using methodologies and ideas developed by gender studies scholars. Similarly, scholars working on gender and the law tend to overlook how PIL regulates gender and distributes power and privilege at the transnational level. Transnational studies focusing on gender, often prioritize human rights analyses, or cultural issues, ignoring how PIL techniques and practices interact with identity, and negotiate differences.

Our goal is to create a space for transdisciplinary research and cross-learning at the intersection of PIL and gender and feminist studies. Over the course of this academic year, we will put in place a series of discussion groups bringing together a diverse group of legal scholars working on gender, and PIL scholars interested in gender justice issues. Sessions, organized around short readings, will address methodological questions as well as some of the most pressing topics in PIL, such as the regulation of transnational surrogacy, the recognition of Islamic family law, or international abduction. Our goal with this project is also to give a platform to emergent scholars representing a diversity of voices and backgrounds.

This academic year, we plan to organize three types of events at the MPI in Hamburg. 

  • The first one will be the kick-off event, taking place on Friday, Oct. 25, from 2-5 pm. Ivana Isailovic (MPI and Northeastern University, US) and Roxana Banu (Western University, Ontario, and Queen Mary University, UK) will guide a discussion examining the connections between gender studies and PIL. The event will be followed by a brainstorming session on how to move the project further.

  • Over the course of the Fall 2019, and possibly into the Spring, we will also organize a series of intimate reading groups around canonical texts in gender studies and PIL respectively. PIL scholars and scholars working on gender and law will meet to discuss these texts in an informal setting. More information about these reading groups will be available soon.
  • The final event for this academic year, to take place in the Spring of 2020, will be a full-day workshop with discussion groups organized around several specific themes. Similarly to the kick-off event, each discussion will be guided by a PIL expert and gender and law scholars.

In order to ensure that cost is not a barrier for participants, travel reimbursements will be available for emerging scholars who could not otherwise attend. 

If you want to attend the kick-off event, please write, by October 18, to veranstaltungen@mpipriv.de. For any general questions concerning the project, including the stipend, please write to gender@mpipriv.de

We look forward to seeing you at the MPI in Hamburg!

Out now: Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters

This book is published as part of Hart’s Studies in Private International Law- Asia series. It is edited by Anselmo Reyes who is a Guest Professor at the Law Faculty of Doshisha University  and an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court.

The publisher’s blurb is as follows:

“This collection offers a study of the regimes for the recognition and enforcement of foreign commercial judgments in 15 Asian jurisdictions: mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India. For practising lawyers, the book is intended as a practical guide to current law and procedures for enforcing judgments in the selected jurisdictions. However, it does not stop at describing current law and practice. Of interest to academics and students, it also analyses the common principles of the enforcement regimes across the jurisdictions, and identifies what should be regarded as the norm for enforcement in Asian countries for the purpose of attracting foreign direct investment and catalysing rapid economic development.

In light of the common principles identified, the book explores how laws in Asia may generally be improved to enable judgments to be more readily enforced, while ensuring that legitimate concerns over indirect jurisdiction, due process and domestic public policy are respected and addressed. With this in mind, the book discusses the potential impact that the adoption of the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements might have on Asian jurisdictions; it also considers the potential impact of the convention for the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters presently being drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

This timely book argues that it is imperative to adopt a uniform system for the recognition and enforcement of judgments throughout Asia if there is to be traction for the enhanced cross-border commerce that is expected to result from endeavours such as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), CPTPP (also known as TPP-11), and RCEP.

Anselmo Reyes is Guest Professor at the Law Faculty of Doshisha University in Kyoto and an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court.”

Meeting on international transfer of maintenance funds: solutions and good practices

Written by Mayela Celis

A meeting on the international transfer of maintenance funds was held in The Hague, the Netherlands from 16 to 18 September 2019. The Conclusions and Recommendations are available here.

Among the solutions contemplated were the establishment of a centralised point for international transfers for both incoming and outgoing transfer of funds, abolishing the use of cheques and exploring how to increase transparency and cost reduction of the transfer of funds. The meeting also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of bundled payments, as well as the use of blockchain and other payment transfer solutions.

While the Experts’ Group discussed solutions and good practices in the context of the 2007 HCCH Child Support Convention, these are equally relevant to the United Nations Convention of 1956 on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance Obligations, Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations, and other regional or bilateral instruments.

It should be noted that pursuant to its Article 49, the 2007 HCCH Child Support Convention prevails over the 1956 United Nations Convention in so far as its scope of application as between the relevant States coincides with the scope of application of the 2007 HCCH Convention.

The European Union, as a Regional Economic Integration Organisation, approved the 2007 HCCH Child Support Convention, which entered into force for the EU on 1 August 2014 (with the exception of Denmark which has not yet acceded to it)

The HCCH news item is available here.