Tag Archive for: conflict of laws

Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, Issue 1/2011

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The first issue for 2011 of the Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, the Spanish journal published twice a year by the Área de Derecho Internacional Privado of Univ. Carlos III of Madrid under the editorship of Alfonso Luis Calvo-Caravaca (Univ. Carlos III) and Javier Carrascosa-González (Univ. of Murcia), has been recently published. It contains twenty articles, shorter articles and casenotes, encompassing a wide range of topics in conflict of laws, conflict of jurisdictions and uniform law, all freely available for download from the journal’s website.

Here’s the table of contents (each contribution is accompanied by an abstract in English):

Estudios

  • Dário Moura Vicente, Principios sobre conflictos de leyes en materia de Propiedad Intelectual;
  • Hilda Aguilar Grieder, El impacto del Reglamento «Roma I» en el contrato internacional de agencia;
  • Celia Caamiña Domínguez, El secuestro internacional de menores: soluciones entre España y Marruecos;
  • Celia Caamiña Domínguez, La «supresión» del exequátur en el R 2201/2003;
  • Sergio Cámara Lapuente, El concepto legal de «consumidor» en el Derecho privado europeo y en el Derecho español: aspectos controvertidos o no resueltos;
  • Maria Ersilia Corrao, Il diritto internazionale privato e processuale europeo in materia di obbligazioni alimentari;
  • Pietro Franzina, La garanzia dell’ osservanza delle norme sulla competenza giurisdizionale nella proposta di revisione del Regolamento «Bruxelles I»;
  • Miguel Gómez Jene, Inmunidad y transacciones mercantiles internacionales;
  • Aurora Hernández Rodríguez, El contrato de transporte aéreo de pasajeros: algunas consideraciones sobre competencia judicial internacional y Derecho aplicable;
  • Mónica Herranz Ballesteros, Prohibiciones y limitaciones del artículo 4 de la Ley 54/2007: entre los objetivos de la norma y la realidad en su aplicación;
  • Stefan Leible, La importancia de la autonomía conflictual para el futuro del Derecho de los contratos internacionales;
  • Clelia Pesce, Sottrazione internazionale di minori nell’Unione Europea: il coordinamento tra il Regolamento (CE) n. 2201/2003 e la Convenzione dell’Aja del 1980.

Varia

  • Alfonso-Luis Calvo Caravaca, Javier Carrascosa González, Notas críticas en torno a la Instrucción de la Dirección General de los Registros y del Notariado de 5 octubre 2010 sobre régimen registral de la filiación de los nacidos mediante gestación por sustitución;
  • María Pilar Canedo Arrillaga, Notas breves sobre la sentencia del TJUE (Sala Cuarta) de 25 febrero 2010 (Car Trim: asunto C-381/08): los contratos de compraventa y los contratos de prestación de servicios en el Reglamento 44/2001;
  • Federico F. Garau Sobrino, La literalidad interpretada desde la coherencia del sistema. Las relaciones entre el Reglamento Bruselas I y los convenios sobre materias particulares según el TJUE;
  • Federico F. Garau Sobrino, Notas sobre la colisión de fuentes de Derecho internacional privado español sobre responsabilidad parental y protección del niño;
  • Natividad Goñi Urriza, La concreción del lugar donde se ha producido el hecho dañoso en el art. 5.3 del Reglamento 44/2001: nota a la STJCE de 16 de julio de 2009;
  • Carlos Andrés Hécker Padilla, Denial of justice to foreign investors;
  • Aurora Hernández Rodríguez, El Derecho aplicable al contrato en ausencia de elección por las partes: el asunto Intercontainer Interfrigo y su repercusión en el Reglamento Roma I;
  • Julia Suderow, Nota sobre la sentencia del TJCE Akzo Nobel y otros de 14 de septiembre de 2010: límites al privilegio legal de las comunicaciones entre abogados y sus clientes.

See also our previous posts on past issues of the CDT (1/2009, 2/2009 and 2/2010). The journal’s website provides a very useful search function, by which contents can be browsed by issue of publication, author, title, keywords, abstract and fulltext.

(Many thanks to Federico Garau, Conflictus Legum blog, for the tip-off)

Kuwait Airways Corporation v. Iraq in the Supreme Court of Canada

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In yet another, but not the final, step in the very long-running litigation between KAC, IAC and the Republic of Iraq, the Supreme Court of Canada has held that the enforcement in Quebec of a 2008 judgment of the English Commercial Court ordering Iraq to pay CAD$84 million to KAC is not barred by soveriegn immunity (decision here).

Many on this list will be familar with the facts.  After the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, KAC sued IAC in England for conversion of several airplanes.  As part of that litigation, KAC was able to claim against Iraq for the costs of the actions that had been brought.  This claim flowed from Iraq’s having controlled and funded IAC’s defence, and it was not barred by sovereign immunity in England because it fell within the commercial activity exception.  Iraq did not defend this claim and default judgment was granted.

KAC discovered immovable property owned by Iraq in Quebec and also some undelivered airplanes Iraq was buying from Bombardier Aerospace.  It thus brought proceedings in Quebec to enforce the English judgment.  Two lower courts held the claim was barred by sovereign immunity but the Supreme Court of Canada found that it fell within the commercial activity exception.

The court applied the State Immunity Act, RSC 1985, c S-18 and held that it applied to proceedings to enforce a foreign judgment (paras. 19-20).  The English decision, which addressed the issue of sovereign immunity, was not binding in Canada and was not res judicata (since to be so it would first have to be recognized in Canada, which was the very issue before the court) (para. 22).  The application of the commercial activity exception to the facts is somewhat brief (para. 35), though there is some useful discussion of the scope of the exception in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada (paras. 25-33).

Two other points of interest: 1. the court does not wade into the issue of whether there are any exceptions to sovereign immunity beyond those set out in the statute (para. 24), and 2. the court accepts the factual findings of the English decision as part of its analysis, prior to concluding that the decision is enforceable in Canada (para. 34).  This latter point seems somewhat hard to explain, and the court does not offer much explanation.

The Supreme Court of Canada did not determine if the English judgment is enforceable in Quebec – it only dealt with the sovereign immunity issue.  The case was therefore remanded to the court of first instance to hear the claim for enforcement.  Iraq likely has some further arguments to advance, such as that the Quebec court lacks jurisdiction over it and that the English default judgment is not entitled to recognition and enforcement (for example, due to the lack of a real and substantial connection between England and the claim advanced against Iraq).

Looking Back and Looking Forward at Canadian Private International Law

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At the recent 40th Annual Workshop on Commercial and Consumer Law at the University of Toronto, three leading Canadian conflict of laws scholars – Vaughan Black of the Schulich School of Law, Joost Blom of the University of British Columbia and Janet Walker of Osgoode Hall Law School – presented a paper looking back at the last forty years in private international law and offering thoughts on what lies ahead.  Each author picked out a particular theme: a judicial trend toward uniformity between provincial conflicts rules, the impact of Morguard on the structure of conflicts rules, and how the profile of the field has changed over time.  The paper is not currently available on the web but will be published in an upcoming issue of the Canadian Business Law Journal.

The paper was supplemented at the Workshop by Genevieve Saumier of McGill University’s oral comments on trends in Quebec’s private international law.  The session was chaired by Elizabeth Edinger of the University of British Columbia.

Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, vol. 2/2010

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The second issue for 2010 of the Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, the Spanish journal published twice a year by the Área de Derecho Internacional Privado of Univ. Carlos III of Madrid under the editorship of Alfonso Luis Calvo-Caravaca (Univ. Carlos III) and Javier Carrascosa-González (Univ. of Murcia), has been recently published. It contains twenty articles, shorter articles and casenotes, encompassing a wide range of topics in conflict of laws, conflict of jurisdictions and uniform law, all freely available for download from the journal’s website.

Here’s the table of contents (each contribution is accompanied by an abstract in English):

Estudios

  • José María Alcántara, Frazer Hunt, Svante O. Johansson, Barry Oland, Kay Pysden, Jan Ramberg, Douglas G. Schmitt, William Tetley C.M., Q. C., Julio Vidal, Particular concerns with regard to the Rotterdam Rules;
  • Giacomo Biagioni, Tecniche internazionalprivatistiche fondate sulla volontà delle parti nel Diritto dell’Unione Europea;
  • Alfonso-Luis Calvo Caravaca, Celia Caamiña Domínguez, L’incorporation au régime juridique espagnol de la normative communautaire de restitution de biens culturels;
  • Federico F. Garau Sobrino, Los acuerdos atributivos de jurisdicción en Derecho Procesal Civil Internacional español;
  • Miguel Gómez Jene, Concurso y arbitraje internacional;
  • Carlos Llorente Gómez de Segua, Las Reglas de Rotterdam (II);
  • Olivia Lopes Pegna, La proposta di cooperazione rafforzata sulla legge applicabile a separazione e divorzio: profili problematici;
  • Agustín Luna Serrano, Hacia el abandono de la mención de la causa en la conformación definitoria del contrato;
  • Maria João Matias Fernandez, O Direito aplicável aos negócios relativos a instrumentos financeiros: a disciplina introduzida pelo novo Regulamento comunitário sobre a lei aplicável às obrigações contratuais («Roma I»);
  • Juan Jorge Piernas López, The notion of State aid and regulation in the EU: drawing the shape of a moving target;
  • María José Santos Morón, Forma contractual y “desarmonización” comunitaria.

Varia

  • Celia Caamiña Domínguez, Las resoluciones de restitución de menores en la Unión Europea: el caso Rinau;
  • Alfonso-Luis Calvo Caravaca, Javier Carrascosa González, Notas breves sobre la Sentencia del TJUE (Sala Cuarta) de 20 mayo 2010 (Bilas: asunto C-111/09): la sumisión tácita en los litigios internacionales de seguro, consumo y trabajo;
  • Cristina Campiglio, Il foro della residenza abituale del coniuge nel Regolamento (CE) N° 2201/2003: note a margine delle prime pronunce italiane;
  • Antonia Durán Ayango, El concepto de orden público internacional y el derecho a un proceso justo. Nota a la STJCE de 2 de abril de 2009;
  • Antonia Durán Ayango, El concepto de parte en el proceso de exequátur. Nota a la STJCE de 23 de abril de 2009;
  • Pilar Juárez Pérez, Dieciocho años de ciudadanía de la Unión: ¿hacia una figura emancipada?;
  • Pilar Maestre Casas, Doble nacionalidad y forum patriae en divorcios internacionales;
  • Giulia Rossolillo, Convenzioni concluse dagli Stati Membri e Diritto processuale civile internazionale dell’Unione Europea: interpretazione conforme o rispetto degli obblighi internazionali?;
  • Julia Suderow, Cuestiones de jurisdicción internacional en torno a la aplicación privada del Derecho antitrust: forum shopping y “demandas torpedo”.

See also our previous posts on issues 1/2009 and 2/2009 of the CDT. The journal’s website provides a very useful search function, by which contents can be browsed by issue of publication, author, title, keywords, abstract and fulltext.

(Many thanks to Pietro Franzina, University of Ferrara, for the tip-off)

New Articles in Canadian Publications

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Two recent publications contain several topical articles:

In the 2010 issue (volume 60) of the University of New Brunswick Law Journal are the following five articles: Catherine Walsh: “The Uses and Abuses of Party Autonomy in International Contracts”; Joshua Karton, “Party Autonomy and Choice of Law: Is International Arbitration Leading the Way or Marching to the Beat of its own Drummer?”; Stephen Pitel, “Reformulating a Real and Substantial Connection”; John McEvoy, “‘After the Storm: The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Private International Law’: Jurisdiction”; and Elizabeth Edinger, “The Problem of Parallel Actions: The Softer Alternative”.  This journal is available to subscribers, including through Westlaw.

In Jeff Berryman & Rick Bigwood, eds., The Law of Remedies: New Directions in the Common Law (Toronto: Irwin Law Inc., 2010) are four articles that relate to the conflict of laws: David Capper, “Mareva Orders in Globalized Litigation”; Scott Fairley, “Exporting Your Remedy: A Canadian Perspective on the Recognition and Enforcement of Monetary and Other Relief”; Garry Davis, “Damages in Transnational Tort Litigation: Legislative Restrictions and the Substance/Procedure Distinction in Australian Conflict of Laws”; and Russell Weaver & David Partlett, “The Globalization of Defamation”.  This collection of articles is available for purchase here.

Two New Books

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Two new books on private international law have recently been published in Canada.

The first is a new textbook: Stephen G.A. Pitel & Nicholas S. Rafferty, Conflict of Laws (Toronto: Irwin Law Inc., 2010).  Though I say it myself, for those in other countries this book should serve as a useful comparative reference to the Canadian law on the subject.  More information is available here.

The second is the third edition of the Canadian casebook in the area: Nicholas S. Rafferty, general editor, Private International Law in Common Law Canada: Cases, Text, and Materials, 3d ed. (Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications Limited, 2010).  There are seven contributors to the casebook: Professors Nicholas Rafferty, Joost Blom, Elizabeth Edinger, Genevieve Saumier, Stephen Pitel, Janet Walker and  Catherine Walsh.  More information is available here.

Reformulating a Real and Substantial Connection

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In Canada, the test for taking jurisdiction over an out-of-province defendant requires that there be “a real and substantial connection” between the dispute and the forum.  In 2002 the Court of Appeal for Ontario created a framework for analyzing a real and substantial connection, setting out, in Muscutt v. Courcelles, eight factors to consider.  This framework became the standard in Ontario and was adopted by appellate courts in some other Canadian provinces.  However, in 2009, in preparing to hear two appeals of decisions on motions challenging the court’s jurisdiction, the Court of Appeal for Ontario indicated that it was willing to consider whether any changes were required to the Muscutt framework.  The two cases, consolidated on appeal as Van Breda v. Village Resorts Limited, 2010 ONCA 84 (available here), each concerned serious injuries that were suffered outside of Ontario.

Rule 17.02 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure provides that a plaintiff may serve a defendant outside Ontario with an originating process in certain defined categories of cases.  Prior to Morguard Investments Ltd. v. De Savoye, the analysis of jurisdiction centered on whether the plaintiff’s claim fell within one or more of the enumerated categories.  However, Morguard established, and Muscutt confirmed, that rule 17.02 did not in itself create jurisdiction.  Separate and apart from whether the claim fell inside the categories, the plaintiff had to establish that there was a real and substantial connection between the dispute and the forum.

In Van Breda the court made a significant change to the relationship between the categories in rule 17.02 and the real and substantial connection requirement.  It has now held that if a case falls within the categories in rule 17.02, other than rules 17.02(h) and (o), a real and substantial connection with Ontario shall be presumed to exist.  The central catalyst for this change is section 10 of the model Civil Jurisdiction and Proceedings Transfer Act.  Section 3 of that statute provides in quite general terms that a court has jurisdiction when there is a real and substantial connection between the dispute and the forum.  However, section 10 contains a list of specific situations in which a real and substantial connection is presumed to exist.  Ontario has not adopted the CJPTA, but in Van Breda the court has adopted the CJPTA’s basic approach. 

Even with this presumption, a framework for analyzing whether there is a real and substantial connection is still required in any case where a defendant seeks to refute the presumption, any case in which a plaintiff is relying on rule 17.02(h) or (o) so that no presumption arises, and any case in which a plaintiff does not rely on 17.02 at all and instead seeks leave of the court to serve a defendant outside Ontario under rule 17.03.  Prior to Van Breda the courts used the Muscutt framework, which considered the following eight factors to determine whether there was a real and substantial connection to Ontario: (1) the connection between the forum and the plaintiff’s claim, (2) the connection between the forum and the defendant, (3) unfairness to the defendant in taking jurisdiction, (4) unfairness to the plaintiff in not taking jurisdiction, (5) the involvement of other parties, (6) the court’s willingness to enforce a foreign judgment rendered on the same jurisdictional basis, (7) whether the dispute is international or interprovincial, and (8) comity and the standards of jurisdiction used by other courts.

In Van Breda the court determined that it was necessary to “simplify the test and to provide for more clarity and ease in its application”.  It held that “the core of the real and substantial connection test” is factors (1) and (2), and held that factors (3) to (8) will now “serve as analytic tools to assist the court in assessing the significance of the connections between the forum, the claim and the defendant”.  The court affirms that factors (3) to (8) remain relevant to the issue of jurisdiction, but the court nevertheless reworks the framework, ostensibly so that no one factor from factors (3) to (8) could be analyzed separately from the other factors and could be independently determinative of the outcome.  It is not clear that this change was necessary or that it makes the framework clearer and easier to apply.

For many, Van Breda violates the idiom “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  The Muscutt framework was well-known and was working effectively.  It was relatively easy to explain and to apply.  In time we will know if as much can be said for the use of presumptions and the Van Breda framework, but for the moment there are questions about how the presumption will operate when challenged by a defendant and about the ongoing role of the factors the court now calls analytic tools.

Publication: “La nuova disciplina comunitaria della legge applicabile ai contratti (Roma I)”

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Boschiero_Venezia_RomaI__348_9562The papers presented at the conference on the Rome I Regulation hosted in November 2008 by the University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari” (see here for the webcast) have been published by the Italian publishing house Giappichelli under the editorship of Nerina Boschiero: “La nuova disciplina comunitaria della legge applicabile ai contratti (Roma I)“.

Here’s the table of contents:

Presentazione (N. Boschiero).

Introduction. Considérations de méthode (P. Lagarde).

Parte I: Problemi generali.

  • Funzione ed oggetto dell’autonomia della volontà nell’era della globalizzazione del contratto (F. Marrella);
  • I limiti al principio d’autonomia posti dalle norme generali del regolamento Roma I. Considerazioni sulla “conflict involution” europea in materia contrattuale (N. Boschiero);
  • La legge applicabile in mancanza di scelta dei contraenti (U. Villani);
  • Le norme di applicazione necessaria nel regolamento “Roma I” (A. Bonomi);
  • A United Kingdom Perspective on the Rome I Regulation (J. Fawcett).

Parte II: Temi specifici.

  • La definizione dell’ambito di applicazione del regolamento Roma I: criteri generali e responsabilità precontrattuale (P. Bertoli);
  • I contratti di assicurazione tra mercato interno e diritto internazionale privato (P. Piroddi);
  • Contratti con i consumatori e regolamento Roma I (F. Seatzu);
  • La legge applicabile ai contratti individuali di lavoro nel Regolamento “Roma I” (F. Seatzu);
  • Il contratto internazionale di trasporto di persone (G. Contaldi);
  • Le relazioni intercorrenti tra il regolamento Roma I e le convenzioni internazionali (in vigore e non) (A. Bonfanti);
  • La legge applicabile alla negoziazione di strumenti finanziari nel regolamento Roma I (F.C. Villata);
  • La legge regolatrice delle conseguenze restitutorie e risarcitorie della nullità del contratto nei regolamenti Roma I e Roma II (Z. Crespi Reghizzi);
  • I contratti relativi alla proprietà intellettuale alla luce della nuova disciplina comunitaria di conflitto. Analisi critica e comparatistica (N. Boschiero).

Osservazioni conclusive (T. Treves).

Title: “La nuova disciplina comunitaria della legge applicabile ai contratti (Roma I)“, edited by Nerina Boschiero, Giappichelli (Torino), 2009, XVI – 548 pages.

ISBN: 978-88-348-9562-7. Price: EUR 50. Available at Giappichelli.