Category Archives: Conflict of Laws
Christopher Whytock, ‘Choice Of Law For Property Issues: The Third Restatement’s Approach In Comparative Perspective’
ABSTRACT In both Europe and the United States, the rules of private international law governing property-related issues are being reexamined. In addition to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation-sponsored project on European private international law and property rights, both the European Association of Private International Law and the European Group of Private International Law […]
Zachariasiewicz and Zachariasiewicz, ‘Culpa in Contrahendo: A Testimony to the Changing Methodologies in Private International Law’
ABSTRACT The concept of culpa in contrahendo traditionally encompasses cases of disloyal conduct by the parties during the negotiation stage of a contract. It applies to a broad range of factual scenarios. Furthermore, the legal nature of culpa in contrahendo has long been the subject of debate, with some legal systems favouring its classification as […]
‘A Costly Drafting Mistake’
When I teach Conflict of Laws, I spend a lot of time showing my class how to draft a good choice-of-law clause. It’s not hard. Everything you need to know is laid out in the Primer on Choice-of-Law Clauses. Unfortunately, these instructions are not always followed. In one recent case, Pool Scouts Franchising LLC v […]
Call for Abstracts – ‘Emerging Voices in Private International Law’ (Asser Institute)
As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, the TMC Asser Institute invites abstracts for the panel ‘Emerging Voices in Private International Law’, to be held on 24 October 2025 in The Hague, at the conference Adapting Private International Law in an Era of Uncertainty. The panel will feature two early-career scholars (PhD candidates or postdoctoral […]
Richard Garnett, ‘An Enhanced Role for Party Autonomy in the Applicable Law for Non-Contractual Obligations’
ABSTRACT The applicable law rules for tort and contract in Australian private international law have developed in isolation from one another. The reason for this tendency is that tortious and contractual claims have long been regarded as distinct causes of action, despite often arising from similar factual circumstances. Consequently, where cases of concurrent liability in […]
Antonio Legerén-Molina, ‘Property Regimes of European Spouses and Partners. Towards Their Unification or Just to a Certain Degree of Harmonization?’
ABSTRACT Over the centuries, in the European context, life-in-common has been organized in different ways although until very recently the undisputed predominance of marriage has stood out. In addition, the combination of today’s means of communication with the implementation of one of the fundamental goals of the European Union (EU) – the free movement of […]
‘Rethinking Private International Law Through the Lens of Colonialism’
Last week (7 June 2025), I had this extraordinary opportunity to give a presentation at the 138th Annual Conference of the Japanese Association of Private International Law, which took place at Seinan Gakuin Daigaku, Fukuoka – Japan. The theme of my presentation was ‘Private International Law and Colonialism’. In this talk, I shared some preliminary […]
Symeon Symeonides, ‘Reflections from Fifty Years in the Conflicts Vineyard’
ABSTRACT This essay was written on the occasion of a Symposium titled ’50 Years in the Conflicts Vineyard’, which was held in the author’s honor in May 2024 at Willamette University Law School and sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools Section on Conflict of Laws. For this reason, the essay is inevitably autobiographical. […]
‘Microsoft Contract Day 2025!’
Two years ago today, I authored a post titled ‘Microsoft’s Dispute Resolution Provisions Are a Mess’. I argued that the ‘Jurisdiction and Governing Law’ language in the form purchase order used by Microsoft and its subsidiaries in 109 countries around the world was ‘incoherent’. My goal in writing the post was to inspire/shame Microsoft – […]
‘Conference: “The Next 25 Years of Private International Law: What Does the World Need?”, 23 June 2025 in Groningen’
This conference marks a significant occasion: the celebration of Professor Mathijs ten Wolde’s 25-year tenure as a professor and director of the Ulrik Huber Institute. In honour of his contribution to the field and his mentorship of generations of legal scholars, the event will bring together former PhD students and distinguished colleagues from across the […]