On Thursday 12 November 2026, the Centre de recherche de droit international privé et du commerce international (CRDI) of Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas and the Centre d’études des droits du monde arabe (CEDROMA) of the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth will hold a conference in Paris on current developments in the private international law of Arab States. The conference asks how these legal systems balance their own legal traditions against the growing pull of shared solutions.
https://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.png00Etienne Farnouxhttps://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.pngEtienne Farnoux2026-11-04 16:18:112026-11-05 07:25:49Conference in Paris on recent developments in the private international law of Arab States, 12 November 2026
Recent years have witnessed a movement towards the dejudicialization of consensual divorce and the proliferation of extrajudicial divorce mechanisms notably in Europe. While this mode of “private divorce” is not, as such, a new phenomenon and extrajudicial divorce has been practised in different forms across various parts of the world (see e.g., Béligh Elbalti, “Le divorce au Japon et son accueil en Tunisie” (2026) 73 Osaka University Law Review 6), it has attracted increasing attention in recent years, given the growing number of European jurisdictions that have introduced mechanisms allowing spouses to dissolve their marriage outside the courts, as well as the complex questions that such divorces raise in terms of their recognition and circulation across borders (for a comparative view in Europe, see e.g., CJEU, Directorate for Research and Documentation, “Extrajudicial Divorce: Rules, Procedures and Cross-Border Recognition in Member States” (Research Note, February 2022) 3; Pablo Quinzá Redondo, “The Recognition of Non-Judicial Divorces in Europe” in Konrad Duden and Denise Wiedemann (eds), Changing Families, Changing Family Law in Europe (Intersentia, 2024) 23). This is particularly true of the Italian form of extrajudicial divorce, introduced by Decree-Law No. 132/2014, converted into Law No. 162/2014, which allows spouses meeting specified conditions to obtain a divorce through an agreement before the civil registrar, rather than through a court.
https://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.png00Béligh Elbaltihttps://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.pngBéligh Elbalti2026-08-09 04:12:352026-08-13 01:51:01Recognition of Italian Extrajudicial Divorces in Tunisia — Between Methodological Uncertainty and the Need to Preserve Continuity of Personal Status Across Borders
“Droit international privé – Immunités de juridiction et competence internationales des tribunaux tunisiens” (Private International Law – Jurisdictional Immunity and International Jurisdiction of Tunisian Courts) is the title of the long-awaited book recently published by Prof. Sami Bostanji, a distinguished Professor at the Faculté de droit et des sciences politiques de Tunis, Director of the DRIMAN research center, and one of the leading private international law scholars in Tunisia. Read more
https://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.png00Béligh Elbaltihttps://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.pngBéligh Elbalti2024-10-13 02:34:512024-10-13 08:57:32Bostanji on immunities and international jurisdiction in Tunisian private international law
I would like to thank Prof. Lotfi Chedly for providing me with the text of the decision on which this post is based.
I. Introduction
Scholars of private international law are well familiar with the classic debate on nationality and domicile as connecting factors in the choice of applicable law (see, for example, L. I. de Winter, “Nationality or Domicile? The Present State of Affairs” 128 Collected Courses III (1969) pp. 357 ff). In Tunisian private international law, this controversy has been particularly pronounced with regard to the role of nationality as a ground for the international jurisdiction of Tunisian courts. Since the enactment of the Tunisian Private International Law Code (“PILC”) in 1998 (for an English translation, see J. Basedow et al. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Private International Law – Vol. IV (Elgar Editions, 2017) 3895 and my own translation of the provisions dealing with international jurisdiction and the enforcement of foreign judgments in 8 Journal of Private International Law 2 (2012) pp. 221 ff)), the debate between opponents and proponents of nationality as a ground for international jurisdiction, especially in family law matters, has never ceased to be intense (for detailed analyses, see eg. Salma Triki, “La compétence internationale tunisienne et le critère de nationalité” in Ben Achour/Triki (eds.), Le Code de droit international privé – Vingt ans d’application (1998-2018) (Latrach edition, 2020) 119ff). This divergence in academic opinion is also reflected in the judicial practice of the courts, with the emergence of two opposing trends: one extends the international jurisdiction of the Tunisian courts when the dispute involves a Tunisian party, in particular as a defendant even when domiciled abroad. The other firmly rejects nationality as a ground for international jurisdiction.
https://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.png00Béligh Elbaltihttps://conflictoflaws.net/News/2020/08/CoL_Banner-1.pngBéligh Elbalti2024-03-02 03:53:312024-03-23 01:27:54International Jurisdiction between Nationality and Domicile in Tunisian Private International Law – Has the Perennial Debate Finally been Resolved?
“Droit international privé – Immunités de juridiction et competence internationales des tribunaux tunisiens” (Private International Law – Jurisdictional Immunity and International Jurisdiction of Tunisian Courts) is the title of the long-awaited