With the publication of the Elgar Companion to UNIDROIT, edited by Ben Köhler, Rishi Gulati, and Thomas John, the trilogy of books on the three key international institutions mandated to work on private international law and uniform private law is now complete. The volumes on the HCCH and UNCITRAL have been published in 2020 and 2023 respectively. The editors have kindly shared the following description with us: The comprehensive Companion provides a unique overview of UNIDROIT, the primary independent organisation coordinating the unification of private law across its 65 member states. As th ..read more

By Dr Benjamin Hayward   Way out west, where the rain don’t fall There’s a treaty for the sale of goods that’s good news for all But you might not know it’s here Unless you’re livin’ and a workin’ on the land …   In 2009, Associate Professor Lisa Spagnolo observed – based upon her census of Australia’s CISG case law at that time – that the Convention was effectively ‘in the Australian legal outback’.  For those unfamiliar with Australia’s geography, most of its population is concentrated on the continent’s eastern coast.  Australia’s outback extends, amongst other places, a ..read more

I. Introduction Recent developments in the field of family law in the UAE, in particular the adoption of the so-called “Civil Marriage Laws”, have aroused interest, admiration, curiosity, and even doubt and critics among scholars and practitioners of family law, comparative law and private international law around the world.[1] First introduced in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,[2] and later implemented at the federal level,[3] these “non-religious” family laws, at least as originally enacted in Abu Dhabi, primarily intend to apply to foreign non-Muslims.[4] The main stated objective of these laws i ..read more

The following case note has been kindly provided by Dr. Samuel Vuattoux-Bock, LL.M. (Kiel), University of Freiburg (Germany).   On May 7, 2024, Advocate General Jean Richard de la Tour delivered his opinion in the case C-4/23, Mirin, concerning the recognition in one Member State of a change of gender obtained in another Member State by a citizen of both States. In his opinion, Advocate General de la Tour states that the refusal of such a recognition would violate the right to move and reside freely within the Union (Art. 21 TFEU, Art. 45 EU Charter of Fundamental Rights) and the right of ..read more

  On Tuesday, May 14, 2024, the Hamburg Max Planck Institute will host its 44th monthly virtual workshop Current Research in Private International Law at 11:00-12:30 (CEST). Roxana Banu (University of Oxford) will speak, in English, about the topic Constructing Imperial Authority through British Imperial Constitutional Law and Private International Law Historians of the British Empire have long underscored the significance of constitutionalism and of legal pluralism in crafting and sustaining imperial authority. Constitutional law scholars, though to a lesser extent, have also been preoc ..read more

  Georgia Antonopoulou (University of Birmingham) From 24 to 26 September 2024, the International Writing Workshop ‘Reimagining Access to Justice: An Equitable Research Partnership with Southeast Asia’ will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia. The writing workshop will focus on the theme of access to civil justice in Southeast Asia and is funded by the British Academy’s International Writing Workshops Programme. It will be organised under three sub-themes: (1) Barriers to Access to Justice, (2) Digital Technologies in Civil Justice, and (3) Access to Justice and Sustainable Development. Seni ..read more

Miss Anam Abdul-Majid (LLM, University of Birmingham; LLB, University of Nairobi; BSC.IBA, United States International University; Advocate and Head of Corporate and Commercial Department, KSM Advocates, Nairobi, Kenya). Dr Chukwuma Okoli (Assistant Professor in Commercial Conflict of Laws at the University of Birmingham; Senior Research Associate; Private International Law in Emerging Countries, University of Johannesburg) We would like to thank Joy Chebet, Law Student at Kenyatta University, for her research assistance and comments. We would also like to thank Professor Beligh Elbalti for hi ..read more

The Second Postgraduate Law Conference of the Centre for Private International Law will be taking place on 6 May 2024, 09:00 – 17:00 GMT.  This is a virtual event bringing together early career scholars working in the private international law field or fields with an intersection to private international law such as EU Law, Human Rights Law and AI Law. See the Programme and Register to attend one of the panels on international family law, artificial intelligence, civil and commercial law or human rights ..read more

With great sadness did we receive notice that Erik Jayme passed away on 1 May 2024, shortly before his 90th birthday on 8 June. Everyone in the CoL and PIL world is familiar with and is probably admiring his outstanding and often path-breaking work as a global scholar. Those who met him in person were certainly overwhelmed by his humour and humanity, by his talent to approach people and engage them into conversations about the law, art and culture. Anyone who had the privilege of attending lectures of his will remember his profound and often surprising and unconventional views, paths and turn ..read more

Meetings & Events From 8 to 12 April 2024, the Working Group on Parentage / Surrogacy met for the second time. Pursuant to its mandate, the Working Group continued its consideration of draft provisions for one new instrument on legal parentage generally, including legal parentage resulting from an international surrogacy agreement. More information is available here.   Vacancies Applications are now open for a Communications and Outreach Internship at the Permanent Bureau of the HCCH. The deadline for the submission of applications is 20 May 2024 (18:00 CEST). More information is avai ..read more