Views
Standard (and burden) of proof for jurisdiction agreements
Courts are often required to determine the existence or validity of jurisdiction agreements. This can raise the question of the applicable standard of proof. In common law jurisdictions, the question is not free from controversy. In particular, Stephen Pitel has argued on this very blog that jurisdiction clauses should be assessed on the balance of probabilities, as opposed to the “good arguable case” standard that is commonly applied (see, in more detail, Stephen Pitel and Jonathan de Vries “The Standard of Proof for Jurisdiction Clauses” (2008) 46 Canadian Business Law Journal 66). That is because the court’s determination on this question will ordinarily be final – it will not be revisited at trial.
China’s Draft Law on Foreign State Immunity—Part II
Written by Bill Dodge, the John D. Ayer Chair in Business Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law.
In December 2022, Chinese lawmakers published a draft law on foreign state immunity, an English translation of which is now available. In a prior post, I looked at the draft law’s provisions on immunity from suit. I explained that the law would adopt the restrictive theory of foreign state immunity, bringing China’s position into alignment with most other countries.
In this post, I examine other important provisions of the draft law, including immunity from attachment and execution, service of process, default judgments, and foreign official immunity. These provisions generally follow the U.N. Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, which China signed in 2005 but has not yet ratified.
China’s draft provisions on immunity from attachment and execution, service of process, and default judgments make sense. Applying the draft law to foreign officials, however, may have the effect of limiting the immunity that such officials would otherwise enjoy under customary international law. This is probably not what China intends, and lawmakers may wish to revisit those provisions before the law is finally adopted. Read more
What is a Judgment (in the context of Reg 655/2014)? – CJEU Case C-291/21 Starkinvest
Less than half a year after the CJEU’s decision in Case C-646/20 Senatsverwaltung für Inneres (discussed here by Krzysztof Pacula), the Court had to engage again with the question of what constitutes a “judgment” in the sense of an EU instrument in Case C-291/21 Starkinvest.
This time, the question arose in the context of Regulation 655/2014 establishing a European Account Preservation Order procedure to facilitate cross-border debt recovery in civil and commercial matters. The regulation envisages two kinds of situation:
- The creditor has already obtained a “judgment” (Art. 7(1)): In this case, the creditor only needs to show that there is an urgent need for a protective measure to ensure that the judgment can be effectively enforced against the debtor.
- The creditor has not yet obtained a “judgment” (Art. 7(2)): In this case, the creditor also needs to show “that he is likely to succeed on the substance of his claim against the debtor”.
In Starkinvest, the claimant had obtained a decision from the Tribunal de commerce de Liège, Belgium, that ordered the debtor to cease seeling certain goods, subject to a penalty payment of EUR 2 500 per breach. On the basis of that decision, they later sought payment of EUR 85 000 in penalties, which they requested the referring court to secure through a European Account Preservation Order. Confronted with the question of how to characterise the initial decision in the context of the above dichotomie, the court referred the case to the CJEU.
News
5th German Conference for Young Researchers in Private International Law in Heidelberg – Conference Report
Written by Victoria Hélène Dintelmann (Heidelberg University)
On February 14th and 15th, 2025, more than one hundred young academics gathered at Heidelberg University for the 5th German Conference for Young Researchers in Private International Law to discuss the topic “Digital Transformation and Private International Law – Local Connections in Boundless Spaces”. The conference was organized by Andreas Engel, Sophia Schwemmer, Felix Berner, Aron Johanson, Markus Lieberknecht, Ann-Kathrin Voß, Charlotte Wendland and Anton Zimmermann.
PIL conference in Ljubljana, 18 September 2025
University of Ljubljana is organising Private International Law Conference with sessions in Slovenian and English. The conference, which will take place in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on 18 September 2025, will gather reknown academics and practitioners who will address current topics in European and international PIL.
The programme is available by clicking here: PIL-Ljubljana2025 and for more infromation you are welcome to contact the organisers at: ipp.pf@pf.uni-lj.si.
Registration Open Soon: The Hague Academy of International Law’s Winter Courses 2026
Recently, the Hague Academy of International Law published the 2026 programme of its renowned Winter Courses in International Law (12-30 January 2026). Unlike the Summer Courses, this program presents lectures on both Public and Private International Law and therefore provides for a particularly holistic academic experience. Once again, the Academy has spared no effort in inviting legal scholars from around the world to The Hague, including speakers from countries as diverse as Argentina, Belgium, China, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, offering its audience a truly global perspective on the topic. Read more