Category Archives: Conflict of Laws
Antonia Sommerfeld, ‘Claiming the EU Right to Repair from Manufacturers in Cross-Border Contexts’
ABSTRACT Starting in August 2026, consumers purchasing goods within the EU will gain new rights of repair for a number of electronic household products specified in the EU Repair Directive (RD). This development will help support a sustainability transition towards a Circular Economy. The Directive’s two-pronged approach vests the consumer with a right to repair […]
Symeon Symeonides, ‘Party Autonomy Then and Now’
ABSTRACT Virtually all private international law systems now accept the principle of party autonomy, namely the notion that parties to a multistate contract may agree in advance, and within certain parameters and limitations, on which state’s law will govern the contract. The first part of this Article, corresponding to the word ‘then’ in the title, […]
‘Foreign illegality and English courts: Do the Ralli brothers now have a sister?’
In the recent and interesting case of LLC Eurochem v Société Generale SA et al [2025] EWHC 1938 (Comm), the English High Court (Commercial Court) considered the extent to which economic sanctions enacted by a foreign jurisdiction (EU law in this instance) can impact the enforcement of contractual payment claims (governed by English law) in […]
Kermit Roosevelt, ‘The State Whose Law is Selected’
ABSTRACT The ability of parties to a multistate contract to choose the law that governs their relationship, once controversial, is now almost universally accepted. So too are the conventional limits on that ability. Most jurisdictions restrict party autonomy in the name of the same set of concerns: Power disparities between the parties that might lead […]
‘Torts and Tourists in the Supreme Court of Canada’
In Sinclair v Venezia Turismo, 2025 SCC 27 (available here) the Supreme Court of Canada has, by 5-4 decision, held that the Ontario court does not have jurisdiction to hear claims by Ontario residents against three Italian defendants in respect of a tort in Italy. The Sinclair family members were injured in a gondola collision […]
‘Enforcement of asymmetric jurisdiction agreements: uncertainty resolved by the entry into force of the 2019 Hague Convention?’
In this blog post, Kristina Lukacova considers to what extent the entry into force in the UK of the Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (the ‘2019 Hague Convention’) on 1 July 2025 has resolved uncertainty as to the enforcement of asymmetric jurisdiction […]
John Coyle, ‘Notice, Consent, and Choice-of-Jurisdiction Clauses in the United States’
ABSTRACT Although choice-of-jurisdiction clauses are routinely enforced by courts in the United States, there are circumstances where they are subject to special scrutiny. One of these circumstances is when the party resisting the clause was not provided with proper notice as to the existence of the clause or the identity of the chosen jurisdiction. This […]
Yuriy Yumashev, ‘From the history of European private law’
ABSTRACT It is well known that private international law (PIL) is one of the main instruments for regulating private legal relations involving a ‘foreign element’. Its crucial role in the integration processes of the European Union/European Community can hardly be overestimated, especially considering that their ultimate aim is the establishment of a single internal market […]
Norhan Moussa, ‘The Applicable Law to International Employment Contracts: A Private International Law Perspective’
ABSTRACT The globalization of labor markets has brought unprecedented challenges in determining the applicable law to international employment contracts. As cross-border employment relationships grow, conflicts of law issues arise, particularly concerning the choice of law and the protection of employees’ rights. This research examines the main principles governing the applicable law to international employment contracts, […]
Nathan Tsang, ‘Digital Assets and The Lex Situs Rule: A “Decentralisation” Approach’
ABSTRACT Digital assets are becoming increasingly prevalent and accessible in both the global and Australian financial economies. A consequence of this is the inevitable increase in cross-border acquisitions and transfers of these assets. The DLT technology utilised by digital assets challenges the application of traditional private international law rules and in particular, the rule relating […]