Conflictoflaws

The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) is holding a webinar on Thursday 29 February 2024 at 14:30 (Mexico City time – CST), 21:30 (CET time). The topic of the webinar is the role of Private International Law in the development and deployment of digital currencies and will be presented by Dr. Israel Cedillo Lazcano (in Spanish).

The details of the webinar are:

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83223220677?pwd=ejcyTysxbUFwLzRIMFhYRGkzV2VpQT09

Meeting ID: 832 2322 0677

Password: AMEDIP

Participation is free of charge.

This event will also be streamed live: https://www.facebook.com/AmedipMX

We are happy to share the following announcement from the organisers.

On 12 April 2024, a hybrid conference will take place at the Skylounge of the University of Vienna to discuss the reform of the Brussels Ibis Regulation; the fundamental reference-instrument of cross-border judicial cooperation in civil matters within the European Union. The reform is expected to begin this year under the new European Commission. The conference is organised by the Institute for Civil Procedure and continues the work already done within the European Association for Private International Law (EAPIL) and the former Max Planck Institute (MPI) Luxembourg.

In 2021, Burkhard Hess wrote a Working Paper on a possible reform of the Brussels Ibis Regulation, identifying problems and suggesting solutions. In the same year, a Working Group was set up within the network of the EAPIL. The members of the Working Group provided information on the application and possible shortcomings of the Brussels Ibis Regulation in their jurisdictions by means of a questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire provided the basis for the conference on the Brussels Ibis reform held at the former MPI Luxembourg on 9 September 2022, where more than 80 participants discussed reform proposals in five panels (report).

Following the 2022 Luxembourg conference, Burkhard Hess and a team of researchers of the MPI prepared a second Working Paper, which put forward 32 proposals for the reforms of the Brussels Ibis Regulation. Members of the EAPIL Working Group were invited to express again their opinion and to vote on these proposals in an online poll. The poll was later opened to the public, as announced on the EAPIL-blog and ConflictofLaws.net. The purpose of this poll was to give the academic public as well as other stakeholders an opportunity to express their view on the proposals. An extensive documentation and analysis of the poll will be published soon, which serves as a basis for discussion at the upcoming conference.

The 2024 Vienna conference features speakers from various parts of the European Union. In the morning, the prospects of the reform process and overarching issues of the Brussels Ibis Regulation are addressed by Andreas Stein (EU Commission), Astrid Stadler (Konstanz), Cristina González Beilfuss (Barcelona), Gilles Cuniberti (Luxembourg), as well as Karol Weitz and Bartosz Wo?odkiewicz (Warsaw). The various proposals for the reform of the Brussels Ibis Regulation will be addressed from a practical perspective in the afternoon during a roundtable featuring, inter alia, Anthony Collins (EU Court of Justice), Georg Kodek (Austrian Supreme Court), Petra Leupold (VKI), Sabine Leupold (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) and Andreas Stein (EU Commission). The full program can be found on the flyer.

Burkhard Hess, Christian Koller and Paul Oberhammer of the Institute of Civil Procedure look forward to your participation in the Vienna conference. Please send your registration to reformingbrussels-Ibis.zvr@univie.ac.at and indicate whether you will participate in person or online.

I. Introduction

It is widely recognized that choice of court and choice of law agreements are powerful tools for structuring and planning international dispute resolution. These agreements play an important role in “increasing legal certainty for the parties in cross-border transactions and reducing incentives for (the harmful version of) forum shopping.” (Alex Mills, Party Autonomy in Private International Law (CUP, 2018) p. 75). However, the realization of these objectives depends on the enforcement of the parties’ choice. Unfortunately, general practice in the MENA (North Africa and the Middle East) region shows that, with a few exceptions, the status quo is far from satisfactory. Choice-of-court agreements conferring jurisdiction on foreign courts are often disregarded or declared null and void. Similarly, the foreign law chosen as the governing law of a contract is often not applied because of the procedural status of foreign law as a matter of fact, the content of which must be ascertained by the party invoking its application. The recent judgment of the High Court of Bahrain (a first instance court in the Bahraini judicial system) in the Case No. 2/13276/2023/02 of 17 January 2024 is nothing but another example of this entrenched practice that can be observed in the vast majority of countries in the region.

II. Facts

X (plaintiff, an English company) entered into a pharmaceutical distribution and sales agreement with Y1 (defendant, a Bahraini company), in 2017 in Bahrain. The agreement provided that disputes arising out of or in connection with the agreement would be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. The parties also agreed that English law should be the governing law.

Following Y1’s failure to make due payments as agreed, X initiated legal proceedings against Y1, Y2 and Y3 (both Bahraini nationals and partners in Y1) in the High Court of Bahrain, seeking payment and some other related costs under Bahraini law. The defendants challenged the jurisdiction of the Bahraini court based on the forum selection clause, but did not present any claim as to the merits of the case.

III. The Ruling

The High Court ruled as follow to affirm its jurisdiction and the application of Bahraini law:

[Regarding international jurisdiction]

“[The defendants] challenge the jurisdiction of the Bahraini courts to hear the dispute on the basis that the contract contains a jurisdiction clause which confers exclusive jurisdiction on the English courts to hear any dispute arising out of or relating to the contract. However, according to Articles 14 and 15 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Bahraini courts have jurisdiction over actions brought against Bahraini nationals, regardless of the nature of the dispute, as long as they have Bahraini nationality at the time the action is brought, without any further conditions, except for in rem actions relating to immovable property located outside Bahrain. Thus, the jurisdiction of the Bahraini courts is based on personal nexus, i.e. the nationality of the defendant, and any agreement to deviate from this jurisdiction is inadmissible because of its connection with public policy. This is because it is the State that determines the jurisdiction of its courts in order to serve the public interest, i.e. to ensure justice, which is one of its primary functions, and to maintain order and peace within its territory. (Underline added).

[Since Y1 is a Bahraini limited liability company and Y2 and Y3, who are partners in Y1, are Bahraini nationals,] it is not permissible to waive the jurisdiction of the Bahraini courts, which retain jurisdiction over the [present] dispute.

[Regarding the applicable law]

It is clear from the contract that the parties agreed that any disputes arising out of the contract should be governed by the laws of England and Wales. Pursuant to Article 4 of Law No. 6 of 2015 on Conflict of Laws in Civil and Commercial Matters with Foreign Elements, the parties may choose the applicable law. [However], Article 6(a) of the same law requires the parties to the dispute to submit the text of the applicable law, failing which Bahraini law shall be deemed applicable. [In the present case], neither party has submitted the agreed law governing the dispute, and X, which [as the foreign party] , requested the application of Bahraini law and relied on the provisions of the Bahraini Commercial Companies Law in its statement of claim. Since the court is not required to ask the parties [to provide the content] the applicable law, as this obligation rests with the parties themselves, Bahraini law shall be applied to the [present] dispute”.

IV. Comments:

1. Sources of Law

It should be indicated from the outset that in Bahrain, rules governing international jurisdiction are primarily found in the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure of 1971  (hereafter referred to as “CCCP,” articles 14-20). Regarding choice of law rules, those concerning family law and successions (i.e., personal status) are included in the CCCP (articles 21 and 22), while those concerning civil and commercial matters, including rules pertaining to general theory, are laid down in a special Law on Conflict of Laws in Civil and Commercial Matters with Foreign Elements (Law No. 6 of 2015).(*)

(*) One may wonder about the reasons behind keeping the choice of law rules in matters of family law and successions within a law dealing with civil and commercial procedure, especially since the Bahraini legislator codified the conflict of law rules in an autonomous act dealing with conflicts of laws (choice of law). There have been some calls to consolidate all private international law rules (including choice of law, international jurisdiction) in a single act dealing with legal relationships involving foreign elements (see eg., Awadallah Shaiba Al-Hamad Al-Sayed, “An Analytical and Critical Study of the Law No. 6 of 2015 on the Conflict of Laws in Civil and Commercial Matters – Kingdom of Bahrain”, Legal Studies, Vol. 2, 2019, pp. 224 ff (in Arabic)), however, no actions have been taken so far to implement this proposal.

2. International Jurisdiction

Interestingly, the rules of international jurisdiction contained in the CCCP deal mainly with actions brought against non-Bahraini nationals, either on the basis of their domicile/residence in Bahrain (general jurisdiction, Article 14 of the CCCP) or in certain other matters depending on the category of dispute (special jurisdiction, Article 15 of the CCCP). The fact that the rules on international jurisdiction refer only to foreign defendants raised the question of whether Bahraini courts could assume jurisdiction based on the nationality of the defendant (Cf. Hosam Osama Shaaban, Treatises on Bahraini Private International Law (Al-Bayan Media, 2016), p. 277 [in Arabic]).

In a number of cases, the Supreme Court has ruled in the affirmative. For example, in a decision issued in 2014, the Bahraini Supreme Court held that “even if the Bahraini legislator did not establish the rules of international jurisdiction of the Bahraini courts in the CCCP with regard to lawsuits filed against Bahraini nationals, it is understood that the jurisdiction of the national courts over [such lawsuits] stems from the consideration of [judicial jurisdiction] as a manifestation of the sovereignty of the State, which extends to what falls under this sovereignty” (Supreme Court, Appeal No. 531/2013 of 15 April 2014). In another case, the Supreme Court confirmed its ruling by considering that “persons holding Bahraini nationality are subject to the jurisdiction of Bahraini courts as a manifestation of the state’s sovereignty over its citizens”, thus recognizing the jurisdiction of Bahraini courts over Bahraini nationals even if they hold a second nationality and are not resident in Bahrain (Supreme Court, Appeal No. 77/2017 of 11 April 2018).

In this regard, it can be said that the High Court’s decision commented here is fully consistent with the well-established case law of the Supreme Court.

3. Choice of Court Agreements

With respect to the admissibility of choice of court agreements, it should be noted that agreements with prorogative effect, i.e., choice of court agreements that confer jurisdiction on Bahraini courts that are not otherwise competent, are generally admitted (see article 17 of the CCCP [dealing with explicit or tacit submission to the jurisdiction of Bahraini courts]; article 19 of Legislative Decree No. 30 for the year 2009 with respect to the Bahrain Chamber for Economic, Financial and Investment Dispute Resolution (BCDR) [on the jurisdiction of the BCDR based on the agreement of the parties]. See also, eg, Supreme Court, Appeals Nos. 154 and 165/2017 of 20 May 2017 [tacit submission to the jurisdiction of Bahraini courts]).

However, with respect to agreements with derogative effect, although the law is silent on the matter, the Supreme Court has ruled against their admissibility. This is particularly the case of the Supreme Court ruling in a decision rendered in 2006 (Supreme Court, Appeal No. 231/2005 of 27 February 2006). The case concerned a lawsuit filed by a former foreign employee against his Bahraini employer, claiming overdue employment rights. The employer relied on a choice of forum clause in favor of the English court, arguing that Bahrain’s rules on international jurisdiction (articles 14 and 15 of the CCCP) apply only in the absence of a written agreement between the parties when one of them is a foreigner, and that rules on international jurisdiction do not concern public policy; therefore, nothing should prevent the parties from displacing the jurisdiction of Bahraini courts in favor of a foreign court. The Supreme Court disagreed. However, instead of framing its decision in the particular context of the employment relationship, where the employee – as the weaker party – deserves special protection, the Court proclaimed the principle that any agreement by which the parties derogate from the jurisdiction Bahraini courts conferred under Bahraini law “shall be deemed null and void and shall not be invoked” to challenge the jurisdiction of courts in Bahraini (Supreme Court, Appeal No. 231/2005 of 27 February 2006).

The High Court’s decision commented here is consistent with this ruling. In fact, the underlying part of the first paragraph of the High Court’s decision quoted above is almost a verbatim copy from the Supreme Court’s decision of 27 February 2007 mentioned above.

Finally, it should be indicated that the position of the Bahraini courts on this issue is broadly similar to that of other countries in the region, as noted in the Introduction. (For a brief overview of some relevant Supreme Court decisions from various MENA Arab countries and the implications of this position for the enforcement of foreign judgments in the region, see Béligh Elbalti, “Perspective of Arab Countries,” in M. Weller et al. (eds.), The 2019 HCCH Judgments Convention – Cornerstones, Prospects, Outlook (Hart, 2023), p. 188.)

4. Party Autonomy – Principle

The principle of party autonomy is enshrined in Article 4 of Law No. 6 of 2015, which states that the “[p]arties may agree to choose the applicable law […]”. Bahraini courts have recognized the principle of freedom of parties to choose the applicable law (eg, Supreme Court, Appeal No. 641/2011 of 27 May 2011). The courts did so even in the absence of legislative guidance prior to the adoption of the current applicable rules (see eg, Supreme Court Appeal No. 143/1994 of 4 December 1994). The High Court in the present case did not deviate from this “well-established” principle, which is rooted in both Bahraini statutes and case law. (For a detailed study based on Bahraini case law, see Béligh Elbalti & Hosam Osama Shabaan, “Bahrain – Bahraini Perspectives on the Hague Principles”, in D. Girsberger et al. (eds.), Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts – Global Perspective on the Hague Principles (OUP, 2021), pp. 414 ff).

5. Party Autonomy – Practice

In practice, however, as demonstrated by the High Court decision, there is a gap between the affirmation of the principle of party autonomy on the one hand and the actual application of the chosen law to a concrete case on the other. This gap arises from the fact that, under Bahraini  law as regularly confirmed by case law,  foreign law is treated as a fact, the content of which must be determined by the party requesting its application (see eg, Article 6 of Law No. 6 of 2015. For further details and examples, see Elbalti & Shaaban, op cit., at 420-421). Consequently, failure to ascertain the content of the foreign law would normally result in the application of Bahraini law. The same principle applies even in cases where the parties have made a choice of law agreement. For example, in the aforementioned Supreme Court decision in the Appeal No. 143/1994 of December 4, 1994, although the Court recognized that the parties had (implicitly) agreed on Pakistani law as the applicable law, it ultimately excluded the application of the chosen law because its content had not been established. (For further details and examples, see Elbalti & Shaaban, op cit.). The High Court did not deviate from this general approach showing by this some degree of consistency in the Bahraini courts’ practice.

6. Epilogue

In the case commented here, the court justified the application of Bahraini law on the grounds that the content of the law chosen by the parties had not been submitted to the court. To some extent, it may be questioned whether such a justification is acceptable, as it could be argued that there was a tacit agreement to apply Bahraini law instead of the chosen law (on the issue of tacit choice of law under Bahraini law and the relevant Supreme Court cases, see Elbalti & Shaaban, op cit., pp. 423-425). However, as evidenced by the facts of the case, the defendants in this case did not present any arguments on the merits, but merely challenged the jurisdiction of the Bahraini court. The mere fact that the plaintiff based its claim on Bahraini law by relying on the relevant provisions of the Bahraini Commercial Companies Law does not in itself constitute an “implied” agreement to apply Bahraini law.

On this particular point, it is interesting to compare the decision of the High Court discussed here with another decision issued by the same court just thirteen days earlier in a case involving similar legal issues, namely the admissibility of a choice of court agreement in favor of the Cayman Islands courts and the application of Cayman Islands law as the law chosen by the parties (High Court, Case No. 5/11341/2023/02 of 4 January 2024). In this case, the High Court ruled in exactly the same way as in the present case with regard to the admissibility of the choice of court agreement. However, with respect to the application of Cayman Islands law, the court held that there was an implied agreement to apply Bahraini law in lieu of the chosen law because both parties based their claim on the provisions of Bahraini law and relied on relevant Supreme Court decisions.

On February 21, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Raiders Retreat Realty Company, LLC.

The question presented was whether, under federal admiralty law, a choice-of-law clause in a maritime contract can be rendered unenforceable if enforcement is contrary to the “strong public policy” of the U.S. state whose law is displaced. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Kavanaugh, the Court concluded that the answer to this question was no. It held that choice-of-law provisions in maritime contracts are presumptively enforceable as a matter of federal maritime law. It further held that while there are narrow exceptions to this rule, state public policy is not one of them.

Great Lakes Insurance SE (GLI) is a corporation organized under the laws of the Germany that is headquartered in the United Kingdom. Raiders Retreat Realty Co., LLC (Raiders) is a company organized under the laws of Pennsylvania. GLI insured a yacht owned by Raiders. The marine insurance contract signed by the parties contained the following choice-of-law clause:

It is hereby agreed that any dispute arising hereunder shall be adjudicated according to well established, entrenched principles and precedents of substantive United States Federal Admiralty law and practice but where no such well-established, entrenched precedent exists, this insuring agreement is subject to the substantive laws of the State of New York.

After the yacht ran aground in Florida and sustained significant damage, Raiders filed a claim. GLI denied the claim on the ground that the yacht’s fire-extinguishing equipment had not been recertified or inspected. Although the damage to the yacht was not caused by fire, GLI took the position that Raiders had misrepresented the vessel’s fire suppression system’s operating ability, thereby making the policy void from inception.

After denying the claim, GLI filed an action for a declaratory judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It asked the court to hold that the policy was void due to the alleged misrepresentations by Raiders with respect to the fire extinguishers. In response, Raiders asserted five counterclaims against GLI: (1) breach of contract, (2) breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, (3) breach of fiduciary duty, (4) bad faith liability under 42 Pa. Const. Stat. §8371, and (5) violation of Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.

GLI moved for judgment on the pleadings with respect to the fourth and fifth counterclaims. It argued that these claims were not viable because the policy’s choice-of-law provision had designated New York as the governing law in the absence of applicable federal maritime law. Because the claims were based on Pennsylvania statutes, it argued, they were barred by the choice-of-law clause. Raiders opposed this motion. It argued that the choice-of-law clause was unenforceable because it was contrary to Pennsylvania’s strong public policy of punishing insurers who deny coverage in bad faith.

The trial court ruled in favor of GLI. The Third Circuit ruled in favor of Raiders. The Supreme Court granted GLI’s cert petition and heard oral arguments on October 10, 2023.

The Court held that the issue of whether a choice-of-law clause in a maritime contract is enforceable is governed by federal law. In support of this conclusion, the Court noted that it had previously held that the enforceability of forum selection clauses in these contracts is governed by federal law. It would be strange, the Court reasoned, to adopt a different rule with respect to choice-of-law clauses. The Court further held that choice-of-law clauses in maritime contracts were “presumptively enforceable.” Again, this conclusion logically followed from the fact that the Court had previously held that forum selection clauses in maritime contracts are “prima facie valid.”

After discussing why the Court’s decision in Wilburn Boat Company v. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company (1955) did not dictate a different outcome, the Court turned its attention to the question of when a choice-of-law clause in a maritime contract should not be enforced. It held that courts should disregard these clauses in situations where applying the chosen law would “contravene a controlling federal statute” or “conflict with an established federal maritime policy.” It also held that these clauses should not be given effect when there was no “reasonable basis” for selecting the law of the chosen jurisdiction. However, the Court expressly rejected the argument advanced by Raiders that a choice-of-law clause in a maritime contract was unenforceable if applying the law of the chosen state would be contrary to a fundamental policy of a state with a greater interest in the dispute.

In rejecting this argument, the Court explained that a federal presumption of enforceability “would not be much of a presumption if it could be routinely swept aside based on 50 States’ public policy determinations.” It reasoned that the “ensuing disuniformity and uncertainty caused by such an approach would undermine the fundamental purpose of choice-of-law clauses in maritime contracts: uniform and stable rules for maritime actors.” The Court also noted that nothing in its previous decisions relating to the enforceability of forum selection clauses in maritime contracts suggested that state public policy was relevant to whether these clauses should be given effect.

Finally, the Court declined to adopt the argument—advanced by me and Kim Roosevelt in an amicus brief prepared with the assistance of the North Carolina School of Law Supreme Court Program—that it should resolve the question of enforceability by looking to Section 187(2) of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws. The Court reasoned that the rule laid down in Section 187 “arose out of interstate cases and does not deal directly with federal-state conflicts, including those that arise in federal enclaves like maritime law.” The Court also pointed out that Section 187 was a “poor fit” for maritime cases in part because it would “prevent maritime actors from prospectively identifying the law to govern future disputes.”

I had two great fears going into this case. Thankfully, neither was realized.

First, I was concerned that the Court might take the test it had previously articulated for determining whether a forum selection clause should be given effect as a matter of federal maritime law and apply that test to choice-of-law clauses. This is, in essence, what the Third Circuit did in its decision below. Such an approach would, in my view, have generated a great deal of mischief. Although choice-of-law clauses and forum selection clauses are often invoked in the same breath, they are not the same and the courts should utilize different tests to evaluate whether they should be enforced. I was relieved that the Court chose not to go down this path. The test laid down in Great Lakes for determining whether a choice-of-law clause in a maritime contract is enforceable is distinct and different from the test for determining whether a forum selection clause laid down in The Bremen and Carnival Cruise.

Second, I was concerned that the Court’s test for enforcing choice-of-law clauses might be couched in such broad language that it would eventually supplant Section 187 in non-maritime cases. This is essentially what happened when the Court decided The Bremen in 1972. Although that decision only applied to forum selection clauses in maritime contracts, the sweeping language utilized by the Court ultimately brought about a significant change in practice in non-maritime cases. The language in Great Lakes, by comparison, is much more carefully drawn. Throughout the opinion, Justice Kavanaugh consistently frames the issue as whether a choice-of-law clause is enforceable in a maritime contract rather than in a more general sense. The rationales articulated by the Court for declining to adopt the rule laid down in Section 187 are similarly encouraging. The Court stated that Section 187 was not the right rule because it “arose out of interstate cases and does not deal directly with federal-state conflicts.” This language suggests that Section 187 should provide the relevant rule of decision in cases relating to the enforceability of choice-of-law clauses when the conflict of laws is between two states—or between a state and foreign country—rather than between state and federal law.

[This post is cross-posted at Transnational Litigation Blog]

The organisers of the 2024 edition of the INSOL Europe Academic Forum kindly shared with us the following call for papers. Please note the deadline for submission is 1 March 2024:

The INSOL Europe Academic Forum (IEAF) is inviting submission for its 20th annual conference, taking place from Wednesday 2 – Thursday 3 October 2024 in Sorrento (Italy). Expressions of interest are invited for the delivery of research papers within the overall theme of the academic conference: ‘The Evolution or Revolution of European Insolvency Law’.

The conference is intended to focus on, inter alia, the following overall topics:

• Asset tracing (including crypto assets)
• Cross-border issues (recognition, coordination)
• Public and social policy and the impact on corporate rescue, and vice versa
• Sustainability and corporate restructuring
• Environmental claims in insolvency
• Transaction avoidance
• Pre-packs
• Modern issues surrounding directors’ duties to file for insolvency
• The impact and benefit (or not) of creditors’ committees
• EU Preventive Restructuring Directive implementation progress and challenges
• EU Harmonising Insolvency Directive
• Competition for cases as a driving force for legislative reform
• International organisations update

The IEAF board also invites submissions on other topics that fall with in the scope of the overall theme of the conference.

Conference methodology

In line with the practice established in our past academic conferences, the intention for the Autumn conference is to have research papers that challenge existing approaches, stimulate debate and ask, and attempt to answer, comparative and interdisciplinary questions within the above broadly defined theme. Accordingly, proposals are invited that do more than just outline a topic of interest in respect of any given jurisdiction, but seek to understand, analyse and critique the fundamentals of insolvency and restructuring systems in ways that are relevant across jurisdictions and across fields of academic inquiry. Contributions must be in English.

Presenting at the IEAF conference

Expressions of interest in delivering a paper should be sent by email on or before 1 March 2024 to the IEAF’s Deputy Chair, Dr. Jennifer Gant.

Authors of papers selected for presentation will benefit from a waiver of the participation fee (one per paper) for the academic conference, however, they will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. A limited number of travel grants are available for junior scholars invited to present.

For further information, see: www.insol-europe.org/academic-forum-events

Written by Justin Borg-Barthet, Katarina Trimmings, Burcu Yüksel Ripley and Patricia Živkovic

Note: This post is also available via the blog of the European Association of Private International Law.

When our colleague and friend Prof Jonathan Fitchen passed away on 22nd January 2021, we were comforted in our grief by an outpouring of messages of condolence from private international lawyers around the world. We had known, of course, of the impact and importance of Jonathan’s work to the world of private international law scholarship. His monograph on authentic instruments, for example, will remain an essential reference on that subject for many years to come. Jonathan’s impact on the world of private international law scholars was, to a degree, less obvious. He was an unassuming man. He did not seek to command the attention of every gathering he attended, and he might have been surprised to realise how often he did just that. He was tremendously well-liked and well-respected for his wit, his self-deprecating sense of humour, and his empathy.

This book seeks to capture in it some of the immense esteem in which Jonathan was held. That much will of course be of interest to the many scholars and practitioners who had the privilege of Jonathan’s acquaintance. The intellectual generosity of the contributing authors will ensure, however, that this volume will also be of great value to those who encounter Jonathan for the first time in these pages. Taken together, the chapters in this book address the major conceptual and practical challenges of our time: from stubborn definitional dilemmas, such as the deployment of key terms in international child abduction cases, to contemporary concerns about disruptive technologies like cryptocurrencies, to core conceptual challenges regarding the unintended consequences of our discipline’s professed neutrality.

The collection is divided into three main parts. Following a preface in which Prof Xandra Kramer paints a vivid picture of Jonathan’s humanity, humour and wit, and an introduction by ourselves as the editors, Part I includes four chapters which address conceptual matters relating to the nature and scope of private international law. Part II is made up of seven chapters concerning civil and commercial matters in private international law. Part III includes two chapters on family matters in private international law.

Part I: The Evolving Nature and Scope of Private International Law

The first substantive chapter is a tour de force by Alex Mills in which he explores the unsettled relationship between private international law and legal pluralism. Mills observes that private international law is both a product and producer of pluralism, in addition to being internally pluralist in its self-conception. Mills’ analysis will be of great interest to readers seeking to discern private international law’s place in the taxonomy of the study of law, whether they are observing that taxonomy from the perspective of a comparatist, a conflicts scholar, or a public international lawyer.

The following chapter also engages with the problem of pluralism in private international law. Thalia Kruger focuses specifically on mediated settlements with a view to illuminating their meaning for the purposes of transnational law. Kruger does a wonderful job of building on Jonathan Fitchen’s work by providing technical and normative analysis of the public faith to be accorded to private agreements. Ultimately, she welcomes a movement towards the upholding of settlement agreements but cautions against potential abuse of vulnerable parties.

The problem of vulnerability is the central focus of the next chapter, by Lorna Gillies. Gillies provides robust, systematic analysis of the theory and practice of our discipline’s treatment of vulnerable parties. This is, of course, one of the central problems in a discipline whose professed neutrality is capable of furthering and entrenching inequalities. Gillies argues persuasively that the application of Fredman’s four pillars of asymmetrical substantive equality would equip private international law better to address inherent risks of vulnerability.

Asymmetries of private power remain the focus of discussion in the following chapter on the under-explored relationship between our discipline and feminist scholarship, authored by two of the editors. Justin Borg-Barthet and Katarina Trimmings set out to contribute to a nascent discussion about sex-based vulnerability and how this is (un)seen by much of the literature and law. It is argued, ultimately, that private international law requires more sustained engagement with feminist scholarship if it is to avoid acting as an instrument for the entrenchment of substantive inequalities.

Part II: Civil and Commercial Matters in Private International Law

Unsurprisingly, given the focus of much of Jonathan Fitchen’s written work, Part II on civil and commercial matters makes up around half of the volume. It begins with Andrew Dickinson’s meticulous analysis of the meaning of “damage” in EU private international law. Dickinson notes that, despite the central importance of the term to the operation of much of EU private international law, there is little clarity as to its meaning. His chapter sets out to remedy this shortcoming through the articulation of a hitherto undeveloped taxonomy of “damage” which promises to become an essential tool in the arsenal of students, teachers, practitioners, and adjudicators of private international law.

Another editor, Burcu Yüksel Ripley, authored the next chapter, which addresses cryptocurrencies. Our discipline’s continued preoccupation with definitional clarity remains very much in evidence in this discussion of challenges posed by disruptive technologies. Yüksel Ripley notes that attempts to characterise cryptocurrencies as a thing/property are unsatisfactory in principle, and that they therefore lead to conceptually unsound outcomes. She proposes instead that analogies with electronic fund transfers provide more promise for the determination of the applicable law.

In the next chapter, by Laura Carballo Piñeiro, the volume returns to another major theme of Jonathan Fitchen’s scholarly output, namely the effectiveness of collective redress mechanisms. Carballo Piñeiro observes that access to justice remains restricted in most jurisdictions, and that a common EU approach remains lacking. Although the courts have provided some routes to collective redress, Carballo Piñeiro argues that a robust legislative response is paramount if corporate accountability for environmental harm is to be realised in Europe.

Private international law’s ability to engage with concerns regarding environmental sustainability remains a key focus of analysis in Carmen Otero García-Castrillón’s chapter concerning the discipline’s place in international trade agreements. The chapter advocates the bridging of an artificial systemic separation between the private and the public in the international system. It is argued that the extent of private power in the international system merits attention in trade agreements if sustainable development goals are to be attained.

Giesela Rühl also addresses concerns regarding private international law’s ability to be deployed in matters which are traditionally reserved to public and public international law. Her chapter considers innovations introduced through the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (Lieferkettensorg-faltspflichtengesetz – LkSG) which establishes mandatory human rights due diligence obligations in German companies’ international supply chains. Rühl laments the lack of attention paid to private international law in German law. She makes an especially compelling case for any future EU interventions to recognise the need to engage with private international law if legislation is to be effective.

The uneasy public-private divide in transnational law remains in evidence in Patricia Živkovi?’s chapter concerning what she describes as “creeping substantive review” in international arbitration. Živkovi? decries a lack of conceptual clarity in courts’ treatment of arbitral determinations, particularly insofar as public policy is deployed as an instrument of substantive review of private adjudication. She argues that international legislative intervention is needed if prevailing inconsistencies of treatment are to be resolved.

Fittingly, Part II is rounded off with a discussion of that part of private international law to which Jonathan Fitchen made his most enduring scholarly contribution, namely authentic instruments. Zheng Tang and Xu Huang discuss authentic instruments in Chinese private international law. Like Jonathan’s work, this chapter provides readers of English language scholarship with a rare example of in-depth analysis of concepts which are unfamiliar in the Anglo-American tradition. The chapter’s compelling arguments for legal refinements will also be of use, however, to readers who wish to identify possible improvements to Chinese law.

Part III: Family Matters in Private International Law

The final part of the book turns to family law, an area in which Jonathan provided ample instruction to students, but which was not especially in evidence in his written work. In keeping with the previous parts of the book, our discipline’s need for definitional clarity and consistency are very much apparent in the chapters in this part, as is the somewhat existential concern regarding the proper delineation of the public and the private. As the authors in this part observe, each of these matters has far-reaching effects on the apportioning of rights and obligations in circumstances which are deeply meaningful to the lives of litigants.

Aude Fiorini’s chapter considers flawed reasoning in the US Court of Appeals judgment in Pope v Lunday. Fiorini illustrates the substantive flaws in the Court’s treatment of the habitual residence of neonates, but also highlights a broader concern regarding the potential for unconscious bias in judicial decision-making. Through the judgment in Pope, Fiorini raises alarms regarding inconsistent judicial treatment of similar situations which turn on appreciation of circumstances establishing the habitual residence of a child. She argues, particularly compellingly in our view, that the interests of justice require greater conceptual clarity and consistency.

In the final chapter, by Anatol Dutta, the interactions of the public and the private return to the fore. Taking his cue from Jonathan Fitchen’s work on authentic instruments, Dutta explores the concept of private divorce under the Brussels IIter Regulation. Concerns regarding decisional autonomy are very much in evidence in this chapter, which considers the meaning of private divorces and the extent to which they enjoy recognition in the EU private international law system. Ultimately, Dutta welcomes measures which restrict private divorce tourism in the EU.

Conclusions

This book was born of a collective wish to remember and honour a much-loved scholar of private international law. In that, we trust that it has already fulfilled its purpose. However, each chapter individually and the book taken as a whole also capture the state of the art of private international law. Ours remains a discipline in search of systemic normative clarity and in episodic need of technical refinement. This collection provides tantalising glimpses of possible answers to both the essential question of the treatment of the private in the attainment of public goods, and in relation to longstanding vexing technical questions.

To preserve and further Jonathan Fitchen’s legacy as an educator of private international lawyers, editorial royalties from the sale of the book will be donated to the Jonathan Fitchen Fund of the Development Trust at the University of Aberdeen. Direct individual donations to the fund are also welcome and appreciated.

On Tuesday, March 5, 2024, the Hamburg Max Planck Institute will host its 42nd monthly virtual workshop Current Research in Private International Law at 11:00-12:30 (CET). Marta Pertegás Sender (Maastricht University and University of Antwerp) will speak, in English, about the topic

Current Developments in Cross-Border Enforcement of Patent Rights: Revisiting Territoriality and Reflexive Effect?

The CJEU preliminary ruling in BSH Hausgeräte Case C-339/22 is eagerly awaited by those involved or interested in cross-border enforcement of patent rights. The forthcoming judgment may have broader repercussions for the position of territoriality in international litigation on intellectual property rights or for the private international law of property more generally.

On the basis of AG Emiliou’s Opinion expected on 22 February 2023, this paper revisits some of the positions defended in my doctoral research almost 25 years ago (on still controversial issues such as the articulation of exclusive jurisdiction rules when validity is contested in infringement cases, or the ‘reflexive effect’ (effet réflexe) of such exclusive jurisdiction rules in favour of courts in non-EU States).

The presentation will be followed by an open discussion. All are welcome. More information and sign-up here.

If you want to be invited to these events in the future, please write to veranstaltungen@mpipriv.de.

We are please to announce that registration for the  next bi-annual conference of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL) is now open!

The conference will take place in Wroclaw (Poland) from 6 to 8 June 2024 and will be devoted to “Private International Law and Global Crises”. Topics to be discussed will include the interplay of private international law and 1) war and armed conflicts, 2)  the rule of law, 3) climate change and 4) global supply chains. Speakers will be:

• Raffaele Sabato (European Court of Human Rights)
• Vincent Kronenberger (Court of Justice of the European Union)
• Andreas Stein (European Commission)
• Patrick Kinsch (University of Luxembourg)
• Veronica Ruiz Abou-Nigm (University of Edinburgh)
• Iryna Dikovska (Taras Shevchenko National University Kyiv)
• Tamasz Szabados (ELTE Eötvös Loránd University)
• Alex Mills (University College London), Matthias Weller (University of Bonn)
• Eduardo Alvarez Armas (Universidad Pontificia Comillas)
• Olivera Boskovic (Université Paris Cité)
• Rui Dias (University of Coimbra)
• Klaas Eller (University of Amsterdam)
• Laura Carpaneto (University of Genova)

To register for the conference please click here.

For questions, please get in touch with the local organizer, Agnieszka-Frackowiak-Adamska, at 2024.EAPIL.Wroclaw@uwr.edu.pl.

The annual DynamInt Doctoral Conference will be held in Amsterdam on 28th and 29th August 2024 and is co-organised by the Graduate School DynamInt (Humboldt University of Berlin) and the Amsterdam Law School (University of Amsterdam). It takes place in the context of the European Law School’s Summer Academy. We invite early career researchers (doctoral and postdoctoral) working in European Union law to come together and to discuss responses to the most pressing crises currently facing the European Union, its Member states, and citizens. Within the framework of the three topics outlined below, participants may present their work and engage in discussion with fellow scholars. In addition, Faculty specialised in EU, international, and comparative law will give in-depth feedback on the contributions submitted prior to the conference.

In recent years, the resilience and adaptability of EU law and governance has been tested by a myriad of challenges that have effectively put the bloc in a constant state of crisis. The already strained balance between unity and diversity increases the necessity for a multifaceted legal framework able to endure challenges, adapt to changing circumstances, and continue to function effectively while upholding the EU’s core values and objectives.

With this conference, we aim to develop a better understanding of the diverse unfolding crises and the unique challenges they pose against the background of an ever-evolving EU legal order. We also seek to explore potential responses and mechanisms that can ensure the EU’s resilience to future crises. For this purpose, we are pleased to invite contributions from both public and private law perspectives on the following topics:

Topic 1: Climate crisis

The ecological crisis caused by climate change represents the defining challenge of our time, posing an existential threat to human societies and the planet. As a cross-sectoral problem, climate change implicates all aspects of social and economic life. Mirroring the scope of the problem, legal responses to climate change must encompass and activate the entire spectrum of the law, ranging from public to private law and beyond. Over the past years, the EU has developed an ambition to emerge as the major player in the fight against climate change. Within the framework of the ‘European Green Deal’, a broad range of legislation, both current and planned, is deployed to achieve the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Notably, some of these legislative projects devise mechanisms of both public and private enforcement, such as the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Yet, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s repeated warnings that global warming will likely exceed 1.5°C in the near term give cause for concern. At the same time, they provide a reason to scrutinise and indeed challenge the EU’s response to the ecological crisis. Do the legislative efforts currently underway adequately address the problem of climate change, which is inherently polycentric, scientifically uncertain, dynamic, and steeped in socio-political conflict? And how do the current legislative efforts fit into the growing landscape of national and international, public and private, as well as top-down and bottom-up responses to climate change?

Topic 2: Inequality crisis

Rising inequality is emerging as a recurrent and prominent theme amongst the crisis facing the European Union. Private law traditionally emphasises principles such as autonomy, efficiency, and justice in exchange, often sidelining concerns related to economic inequality. Conversely, public law, focused on vertical relationships, fails to engage with the underlying factors that give rise to inequality in the first place. The orthodox view holds that distributive objectives should be managed primarily through the fiscal system and welfare state infrastructure. However, this paradigm is increasingly contested by the realities of mounting inequality despite the existence of public governance mechanisms to alleviate it. A critical re-evaluation of these approaches and their historical underpinnings may unveil the root causes of inequality and its institutional dimension. In this vein, recent scholarship has pointed to the instrumental role of legal institutions in “coding” assets into capital thereby creating wealth and perpetuating inequality. Emerging asset classes like data and the environment are following the same pattern, potentially paving the way for future crises. Moreover, recent developments in economic organisation, such as the rise of digital platforms and the gig economy, have widened the gap between individuals and corporations in terms of bargaining power and access to justice.

Topic 3: Armed conflict crisis

The rise of armed conflicts and acts of aggression worldwide has led the EU to shift its internal and external policies in light of these crises, some of which have recently reached its borders. The EU has intensified its efforts to strengthen economic resilience, enhance energy security, and enforce a robust sanctions regime against those undermining peace and international law. This recalibration includes tightening financial regulations to prevent the flow of funds to sanctioned entities and enhancing the bloc’s capacity for economic diplomacy to mitigate the impact of geopolitical tensions. Furthermore, the EU’s adaptation of its policies underscores the necessity of a coordinated approach that not only addresses immediate threats but also anticipates future challenges, ensuring the stability and integrity of the Union. At the same time, these policies bring about inadvertent consequences for private legal relationships, such as insurance policies, energy sector contracts, and within the shipping industry. What are the legal and ethical implications of the EU’s use of economic measures, such as sanctions, from a public and private law perspective? How has the legal framework of the European Union adapted to address the security challenges posed by the geopolitical tensions near its borders? How are these regulatory shifts and the geopolitical strategy of the Union normatively legitimated?

Submission timeline

We welcome submissions in the form of an abstract (max. 500 words) by 15th April 2024. The issues and questions touched upon in the descriptions of the topics are intended to serve as thematic guidance, but are by no means meant to be exhaustive. Please send your submissions via the following form: https://bit.ly/DynamIntConference.

Successful participants will be contacted by 15th May 2024 at the latest and are expected to submit their full paper (max. 8,000 words including footnotes) by 15th July 2024. They will be sent to established scholars who will provide feedback during the conference. The abstract and the paper may be submitted in English, French, and German. However, the presentations and discussions during the panels will be held in English.

Logistics and funding

The conference will be held as an on-site event only. The accommodation costs for panellists will be covered. Further information will be offered at a later stage to the selected speakers. Participation in the entire workshop is free of charge. General registration for the entire workshop will open in early summer 2024.

Any question may be directed to gesche.ripken@hu-berlin.de.

The fourth issue of 2023 of the Rivista di diritto internazionale privato e processuale (RDIPP, published by CEDAM) was just released. It features:

Cristina Campiglio, Professor at the University of Pavia, Giurisdizione e legge applicabile in materia di responsabilità medica (ovvero a proposito di conflitti di qualificazioni) [Jurisdiction and Applicable Law in Matters of Medical Liability (Namely, on the Issue of Conflicts of Characterisation); in Italian]

An attempt has been made to give an account of the conflicts of qualification that characterise the healthcare sector, starting with the contractual or non-contractual nature of civil liability for malpractice. We then looked at the nature of the healthcare contract to assess whether patients can fall into the category of consumers and consequently enjoy the protection reserved to them. Finally, reference was made to the qualification of the patient’s self-determination as an expression of the right to privacy rather than the right to physical integrity. Research on the nature of civil liability in a field – the health sector, as said – where many activities are potentially harmful to the physical integrity of the patient so that the health-care operator might be held accountable of culpable personal injury or even of manslaughter, provided an opportunity to analyse the practice of the Court of Justice relating to the qualification of “contractual matters” and indirectly of the non-contractual matter of culpable “tort”; and to note how the Court, in recent years, on the one hand has openly espoused an extensive interpretation of “contractual matters”, and on the other hand has missed the chance to speak out on hypotheses of non-contractual liability in contractual contexts, or of concurrence of contractual and non-contractual liability. It is to be hoped that the European Union will become aware of the need to provide ad hoc rules on the liability of healthcare personnel who engage in activities that are intrinsically hazardous to patients’ health: if not substantive rules or guidelines, at least rules on jurisdictional competence and applicable law.

Olivia Lopes Pegna, Professor at the University of Florence, Continuità interpretativa e novità funzionali alla tutela dell’interesse del minore nel regolamento Bruxelles II-ter (Continuity in Interpretation and Novelties Functional to the Protection of the Interest of the Child in the Brussels IIb Regulation; in Italian)

This article aims at illustrating the main innovations introduced in the Brussels regime on parental responsibility and protection of children with the Recast: i.e., Regulation (EU) No 2019/1111 (“Brussels II-ter”). While, on the one side, interpretation and application of the Recast Regulation mandate continuity with the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, on the other side the novelties introduced with the Recast show an increased penchant towards flexibility in order to achieve the protection of the actual and concrete best interests of the child.

Edoardo Benvenuti, Research Fellow at the University of Milan, Climate change litigation e diritto internazionale privato dell’Unione europea: quale spazio per la tutela collettiva? (Climate Change Litigation and EU Private International Law: Is There Room for Collective Redress?; in Italian)

With the worsening of the climate crisis, the EU is adopting a number of measures – both in the public and private sector – in order to counter such phenomenon. The layering of substantive norms and standards goes hand in hand with the growing interest towards procedural tools suitable to make the application of such rules effective through private enforcement. Against this background, and given the collective and the ubiquitous dimension of the consequences of climate change, the present article explores the phenomenon of collective redress in the field of climate change litigation. After introducing the definitions and the characteristic features of climate change litigation and collective redress, the article examines the role of Regulations (EU) No 1215/2012 and (CE) No 864/2007, in order to evaluate their ability to address the private international law issues arising from collective and climate change litigation. In doing so, the article focuses on the relevant case-law (both national and of the CJEU), as well as on Directive (EU) 2020/1828 on consumers’ representative actions, which provides a number of propositions that can be applied also in the context of climate change litigation. Once the main critical aspects have been identified, the article puts forth some reform suggestions to strengthen EU private international law mechanisms in the context of environmental mass torts.

This issue also comprises the following comment:

Ginevra Greco, Researcher at the University of Milan, Il c.d. uso alternativo del rinvio pregiudiziale di interpretazione (The So-Called Alternative Use of the Referral for a Preliminary Ruling on Interpretation; in Italian)

This article endeavours to show that, contrary to popular opinion, the interpretative judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which use the terms “precludes” or “does not preclude”, are genuine judgments on the conformity of a national act or measure with EU law. This article also aims to illustrate the compatibility of those judgments with the model of Article 267 TFEU. This conclusion is supported not by the fact that such judgments are devoid of application profiles, but because they remain within the scope of the interpretative function of the Court of Justice, understood not as abstract interpretation, but as an interpretation which contributes to the resolution of the concrete case pending before the referring court.

Furthermore, in the Chronicles section, this issue includes:

Anna Facchinetti, Researcher at the University of Milan, Immunità degli Stati ed exequatur di sentenze straniere in materia di terrorismo: una recente pronuncia della Corte di Cassazione francese (State Immunity and Exequatur of Foreign Judgments on Terrorism: A Recent Ruling by the French Court of Cassation; in Italian).

Finally, the following book review by Fausto Pocar, Emeritus Professor at the University of Milan, is featured: Albert Venn DICEY, John Humphrey Carlile MORRIS, Lawrence COLLINS, Dicey, Morris & Collins on The Conflict of Laws, 16th ed., Sweet & Maxwell, London, 2022, 2 voll., pp. cdxli-2476-LXXI; Companion vol., EU Withdrawal Transition Issues, pp. li-162.

Authors: Abubakri Yekini (Lecturer in Conflict of Laws at the University of Manchester) and Chukwuma Okoli (Assistant Professor in Commercial Conflict of Laws at the University of Birmingham, Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg).

A  Introduction

In an increasingly globalised economy, commercial transactions often involve business entities from different countries. These cross-border transactions present complex legal questions, such as the place where potential disputes will be adjudicated. To provide certainty, commercial parties often conclude ex ante agreements on the venue for dispute resolution by selecting the court(s) of a particular state. However, what happens if no such agreement over venue is reached for resolving a contractual dispute? Could consent to the venue be implicitly inferred from the parties’ conduct or other factors?

Explicit jurisdiction clauses offer cross-border litigants the benefit of predictability by allowing them to anticipate where disputes arising from their commercial transactions will be resolved. However, business entities sometimes neglect to include express provisions for the venue, whether inadvertently or due to their inexperience. In such cases, firms may have implicitly agreed on a venue through their actions or based on their tacit understanding. This type of ‘unwritten’ jurisdiction agreement remains largely unexplored in the legal scholarship.

Relatively recently, the validity or enforceability implied jurisdiction agreements arose in the Privy Council case of in the Privy Council Case of Vizcaya Partners Ltd v Picard & Anor [2016] UKPC 5. In this Case, following a comprehensive survey of the existing academic and judicial authorities, Lord Collins held that since it is commonplace for a contractual agreement or consent to be implied or inferred, ‘there is no reason in principle why the position should be any different in the case of a contractual agreement or consent to the jurisdiction of a foreign court’. However, in the wake of the above Case, the notion of an implied jurisdiction agreement drew limited scholarly research attention (for instance, see Kennedy, (2023);  Kupelyants, 2016). Moreover, there has been no systematic analysis of how it aligns with the needs of the international business community.

In our latest article, published in the 2023 edition of the Journal of Private International Law, vol. 19(3), we examine the enforceability of implied jurisdiction agreements from a global comparative perspective. Therefore, our paper provides the first comparative global perspective of the enforcement of implied jurisdiction in international contracts. Our analysis reveals uncertain and subjective standards for implied jurisdiction agreements, which undermine the needs of international commerce. While limited scenarios may justify enforcing implied jurisdiction agreements, our paper advocates restraint, given that the criteria for inferring consent are complex, unpredictable, and variable across legal systems.

B  Implied Jurisdiction Agreements Create Uncertainty for Business

The main thesis of our article is that implied jurisdiction undermines the core needs of business entities engaging in cross-border commercial transactions. These entities value legal certainty and predictability, in order to make informed choices and plan business activities. However, by their very nature, implied terms offer less clarity concerning the governing law and jurisdiction agreements.

Our article likewise surveys primary legal sources across common law, civil law and mixed legal systems (as well as insights from academics and practising lawyers), assessing whether implied jurisdiction agreements are widely recognised. We find limited consensus on the conduct that demonstrates implied consent or agreement to litigate in a particular forum. Factors such as previous interactions between contracting parties and trade usage in an industry are highly subjective. Even common law tests for inferring implied terms, like the ‘officious bystander’ and ‘business efficacy’ rule, fail to clarify how these terms apply specifically to international jurisdiction.

This uncertainty requires the courts to undertake a complex, case-by-case analysis of parties’ unspoken intent. However, companies benefit from consistency in interpreting cross-border transactions, whereas a lack of clarity risks complicating commercial disputes, rather than resolving them efficiently. Overall, the unclear standards surrounding implied jurisdiction agreements are incapable of delivering the stability required by global businesses when operating across legal systems.

C Treatment under International Conventions 

International treaties are aimed at harmonising divergent national laws and policies on jurisdiction, applicable law, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.  The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (HCCA) governs exclusive choice of court agreements from a global perspective. Articles 3(c) and 5(1) address formal and substantive validity. Our paper suggests that the requirement for the written form under Article 3(c) may present challenges in implying jurisdiction agreements. Consequently, it is difficult to envision situations where implicit jurisdiction agreements could arise under the Hague Choice of Court Convention, given that the initial hurdle is the requirement for the agreement to be in writing.

The spirit of the HCCA is further reflected in the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention, which seeks to promote express – as opposed to implicit – jurisdiction agreements between parties. For instance, Article 5 of the Convention exhaustively lists permitted grounds for establishing international jurisdiction. This provides clarity for commercial parties who are litigating abroad. Consequently, implied jurisdictions agreements are conspicuously absent and so the policy favours explicit consent. Accordingly, we argue that the emerging global consensus dictates caution around enforcing implied jurisdiction agreements that could disrupt settled jurisdictional principles in the international context.

Brussels Ia and the Lugano Convention share provisions for the validity of a jurisdiction agreement. Namely, consent must be in writing, or evidenced in writing. This aligns with the Hague frameworks: the HCCA and the Judgments Convention. While some scholars argue for the validity of implied jurisdiction agreements in specific contexts (especially trade usage and previous dealings between parties), the prevailing view requires clear and precise consent. By way of illustration, CJEU’s stance in Cases like Galeries Segoura  SPRL, ProfitInvestment SIM SpA and Colzani,  implies a stringent approach to consent.

D  Should Implied Jurisdiction Agreements be Enforced?

In section IV of our paper, we examine the justification and rationale for the recognition or otherwise of implied jurisdiction agreements, having, inter alia, considered the diverse approaches adopted by the many courts across the globe.

1. Business Efficacy and Commercial Expectations

Party autonomy, a cornerstone of private international law, emphasises the importance of upholding the presumed intentions of the contracting parties. The recognition of implied jurisdiction agreements potentially aligns with the principle of party autonomy, since it seeks to fill gaps in contracts and thereby reflect the parties’ unexpressed intentions, as noted by Lord Neuberger. In the context of English law, Lord Collins relied on the business efficacy and officious bystander analogy to imply jurisdiction agreements in Vizcaya.

Additionally, the application of business efficacy logic can mitigate challenges such as parallel proceedings or the fragmentation of disputes. Extending a jurisdiction agreement to closely related contracts, even in the absence of explicit terms, will reduce uncertainty and meet commercial expectations. Certainty, convenience, and the efficient administration of justice are paramount considerations for rational businessmen who would rather not litigate in separate courts. Nonetheless, Cases like Terre Neuve Sarl v Yewdale Ltd [2020] and Etihad Airways PJSC v Flother [2020] reveal complexities in ascertaining commercial expectations and business efficacy. Divergent approaches to interpreting and implying terms, coupled with the challenge of defining what constitutes a reasonable businessperson, further contribute to the uncertainty and unpredictable outcomes.

    2. The Choice of Law Analogy

Implied choice of law is well-established in private international law. Moreover, it is recognised in various international instruments and across common law, mixed, and civil law jurisdictions. While jurisdiction and choice of law are distinct, the underlying principle of implied choice of law may apply to implied jurisdiction agreements.

Globally, the interrelationship between jurisdiction and choice of law is acknowledged. For instance, the CJEU emphasises a consistent approach to determining both. The applicable law of a contract, while not determinative of jurisdiction, remains significant. However, challenges arise when parties fail to expressly state the applicable law, leading to a strict standard for implying the choice of law based on a number of factors.

Despite the recognition of implied choice of law, we argue against transposing this principle directly to the question of jurisdiction. Jurisdiction involves the exercise of state powers over litigants, and while implied choice of law may indicate a governing law, it does not necessarily imply submission to the jurisdiction of a specific court. Instead, the distinct nature of jurisdiction agreements calls for a nuanced approach.

     3. International Jurisdiction and the Recognition of Foreign Judgments

Implied jurisdiction agreements play a dual role, serving as a basis for establishing both direct and indirect jurisdiction. Courts often decide on the enforceability of judgments based on the existence of a jurisdiction agreement, whether express or implied.

Different thresholds apply to direct and indirect jurisdiction. This differentiation reflects the complexities involved in establishing jurisdiction in cross-border disputes. While policy considerations may influence the exercise of direct jurisdiction, recognising and enforcing foreign judgments necessitates adherence to some very specific, often stricter, criteria set by the court addressed.

The inherent connection between jurisdiction and judgments underscores the need for certainty in cross-border litigation. Implied jurisdiction agreements lack globally established criteria. This introduces ambiguity and can lead to prolonged legal proceedings, given that litigants will often draw attention to implicit jurisdiction agreements at the enforcement stage. In short, it undermines the efficiency sought in international business transactions.

On the strength of the inefficiency that can arise from an exercise of jurisdiction based on implicit agreements, we argue that the concept of implied jurisdiction agreements adds little (if any) value to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Conversely, the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention provides clear jurisdictional grounds, consequently averting the need for implied agreements. The Convention’s carefully drafted criteria support the global pursuit of certainty and predictability in cross-border commercial legal frameworks.

E  Conclusion

In closing, we argue that implied jurisdiction agreements do not align with the needs of international commerce or the emerging global consensus on international jurisdiction. Aside from the very limited recognition of implied jurisdiction agreements under certain international instruments such as Brussels Ia, our study further reveals divergent national approaches to implied jurisdiction agreements. For several reasons, we advocate caution regarding the validity of implicit agreements:

1. Consent is not genuinely mutual if one party disputes the existence of an implied agreement: genuine consent must be clear.
2. Implied agreements provide minimal value: even without them, jurisdiction can be founded on close connections between the contract and forum.
3. The emerging global consensus on jurisdiction, as seen in the HCCH Conventions, emphasises predictability through the requirement for well-defined but restricted grounds. Implied agreements therefore fail to align with the policy behind these instruments and the emerging consensus.

Our overall conclusion is that express jurisdiction agreements should remain the priority for cross-border contracts.

The United Nations Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seems to have a blind spot for the role of private and private international law. That blind spot is beginning to be closed. A collective volume with global outlook published in 2021 addressed “the private side of transforming our world”: each of the 17 SDGs was discussed in one chapter of the book devoted to the specific relevance of private law and private international law. In 2022, the IACL-ASADIP conference in Asunción, Paraguay discussed sustainable private international law with regard to Latin America; the contributions published in 2023 in a special issue of the University of Brasilia Law Journal – Direito.UnB., V.7., N.3 (2023).

In this occasion the focus is on Asia. The Chinese Journal of Transnational Law invites submissions for its Vol. 2 Issue 2, to be published in 2025, engaging critically with the functions, methodologies and techniques of private international law in relation to sustainability from an Asian perspective, as well as in relation to the actual and potential contributions of private international law to the SDGs in Asia.

Contributions should focus on Asian perspectives, either addressing a specific global challenge through the lens of the relevant normative framework of a particular country, sub-region, or community/ies in Asia; or ‘glocalising’ the challenge, analysing specific issues affecting concrete contexts in the region in relation to the global objectives included in the UN 2030 Agenda.

Topics could include, but are not limited to:

• Relationships between the international and the domestic, or/and the public and the private in the pursue of the UN Agenda 2030 in Asia
• Sustainability in global supply/value chains and private international law in Asia
• Intra-regional (South-South) migration in Asia and private international law (focus on specific kinds of migration, such as labour migration, climate change migration, forced displacement, refugees, etc)
• Clean energy in Asia and private international law
• Decent work (and economic growth) in Asia, and of Asian workers beyond Asia, and private international law
• Sustainable consumption and production in Asia and private international law (focus on a specific sector, such as apparel, food, agricultural products, etc)
• Gender equality in Asia and private international law
• Sustainable Asian cities and communities and private international law
• Establishment and proof of personal identity in Asia; portability across borders of identity documents in Asia and beyond
• (Non-) recognition of foreign child marriages and forced marriages in and from Asia
• Availability and sustainable management of water (and sanitation) in Asia and the role of private international law
• Private international law and cross-border environmental damage/ adverse effects of climate change/ loss of biodiversity from an Asian perspective.

Note: The issue of transnational access to justice in relation to sustainable development has been considered extensively, including from an Asian perspective, so we suggest interested contributors to refrain from submitting contributions based exclusively on SDG 16.

An abstract of 500-800 words should be submitted by 15  March 2024 to PIL.sustainability.CJTL@ed.ac.uk and CJTL.Editor@whu.edu.cn (please send the abstract to both email addresses). Please include the contributor’s last name in the email title. Selected contributors will be invited to submit a draft paper by 1 October 2024 in advance of a hybrid conference at Wuhan University in November 2024. The submission of the full article through the journal’s homepage: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ctl is required by 1 March 2025. Accepted articles will be published online first as advanced articles. Contributors may choose between: Research articles (up to 11,000 words inclusive of footnotes) or short articles (up to 6,000 words inclusive of footnotes). The special issue will be published in September 2025.

Those interested may contact the guest editors Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm, Ralf Michaels and Hans van Loon at PIL.sustainability.CJTL@ed.ac.uk.

In its judgment of 8 February 2024, the CJEU had to decide whether “the application of the Brussels Ibis Regulation be based solely on the fact that two parties with their seat in the same Member State agree on the jurisdiction of courts of another EU Member State.”

The case concerned two loans granted to Dúha reality, a Slovak company, by a third party also domiciled in Slovakia, in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Both loan contracts contained an identical choice of forum clause stating that any ‘dispute shall be settled by a court of the Czech Republic having substantive and territorial jurisdiction’. In 2021, the receivables arising from those loan agreements were assigned to Inkreal, another purely Slovak business corporation, who upon non-payment by the debtor brought action in the Czech Republic. Seeking, inter alia, to determine the specific Czech court having territorial jurisdiction, the Czech Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud) referred the question to the CJEU.

The CJEU engaged in an almost textbook-like analysis of not only the clear wording of Art. 25 Brussels Ibis, which does not contain any restrictictions whatsoever with regard to an additional connection to the chosen or another Member State (para. 17), but also of the purpose of the Regulation to provide legal certainty requiring that the designated court can easily assess its jurisdiction without recourse to the merits of the case (para. 27). Furthermore, the CJEU concluded by an argumentum e contrario to Art. 1(2) HCCH 2005 Choice of Court Convention that the EU legislator, who drew inspiration from the Hague instrument when drafting the recast, was well aware of the issue but deliberately decided against the adoption of a similar provision excluding choice of court agreements in otherwise purely domestic cases from the scope of application (para. 38). As a result, the CJEU answered the question in the affirmative, thereby strengthening party autonomy and predictability in the context of international civil procedure. This is to be welcomed.

The Opinion of 12 October 2023 provided by AG Richard de la Tour had gone to the contrary, namely that an international element must be established “according to objective criteria” whereas the mere subjective choice of a foreign Member State’s court may not suffice to trigger the application of the Brussels Ibis Regulation (para. 32). While elements of the underlying argumentation appear questionable, as discussed elsewhere, the Opinon, interestingly, also put forward that the Brussels systems should be harmonised with the Hague Convention (“the Hague system”?), which might be taken as a reminiscent of a light form of the principle of systemic integration, Art. 31 (3) (c) VCLT. In this respect, the Opinion could also be seen as evidence of a heightened awareness of the increasing role that the CJEU’s decisions could play in the greater picture of international judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.

The first issue for Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly in 2024 was published recently. It contains the following articles and case notes.

Articles:

Andrew Dickinson, “Electronic trade documents and the conflict of laws in the United Kingdom”

The Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023, which entered into force on 20 September 2023, seeks to facilitate the use of trade documents (including bills of exchange, promissory notes and bills of lading) in electronic form by assimilating these instruments, and their legal effects, to the equivalent paper trade documents, provided that the systems used to process the relevant information meet certain technological requirements. However, the Act contains no provision that expressly addresses the legislation’s cross-border dimension or its relationship to the United Kingdom’s conflict of laws rules. This article considers how these matters should best be addressed in order to secure the Act’s promised economic benefits.

Shane Herbst and Simon Allison, “Breaking the Hague-Visby Rule’s Silence on choice of law and forum clauses: Article 3 revisited”

It is generally assumed that the Hague-Visby Rules are silent on choice of law and forum clauses. However, Art.3(8) can potentially operate to invalidate such clauses; and the general assumption is challenged by reference to Australia’s cargo liability regime. This reality could incentivise jurisdictions wanting to uphold such clauses to construe the Hague-Visby Rules uniformly. Despite this, the limits of Art.3(8) should be clarified. In Australia, reform efforts should address this and other issues with arbitration agreements. As Art.3(8) currently stands, parties must consider its potential effects on dispute resolution provisions in sea-carriage documents.

Case Notes:

Adrian Briggs, “The empire strikes back”

Andreas Giannakopoulos and Adnan Khaliq, “Damages for breach of dispute resolution agreements and EU public policy”

Adrian Briggs, “When arbitration matters”

This book brings together the contributions made at the 6th AEPDIRI Seminar on current issues in Private International Law, held at the Faculty of Law of the University of Seville, which was entitled “De los retos a las oportunidades en el derecho de familia y sucesiones internacional” (From challenges to opportunities in international family and succession law), Campuzano Díaz, B., Diago Diago, P., Rodríguez Vázquez, Mª.A. (dirs.). An English translation of the blurb is provided by the directors:

The book is structured in four thematic sections. The first one is dedicated to Regulation 2019/1111 and its application in Spain, analysing important issues related to international child abduction and divorce before non-judicial authorities and its recognition. The second thematic section is dedicated to the economic regime of marriage and the couple, inheritance and the organisation of family assets, with reflections on the impact of the principle of equality between spouses and the protection of assets through international estate planning institutions, among other issues. The third section deals with questions of civil status and the solutions provided by the Spanish Civil Registry Law, with special attention to filiation in Private International Law from the perspective of the protection of fundamental rights and the respect for family life. The fourth section includes studies about current realities, such as situations of domestic violence in cases of international child abduction, negotiable institutions and their place in the succession Regulations and the interpretation of private international family law in different High Courts (CJEU and ECtHR).

It is a book of great interest, not only because of the importance and diversity of the subjects dealt with, but also because of the important group of specialists in international family and succession law who have participated in its drafting.

The book is published in digital and open access format:

https://open.tirant.com/cloudLibrary/ebook/info/9788411978248

https://www.aepdiri.org/index.php/las-publicaciones/otras-publicaciones/2170-campuzano-diaz-b-diago-diago-p-rodriguez-vazquez-m-a-dirs-de-los-retos-a-las-oportunidades-en-el-derecho-de-familia-y-sucesiones-internacional

By Poomintr Sooksripaisarnkit

Lecturer in Maritime Law, Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania

Introduction

On 14th February 2024, the High Court of Australia handed down its judgment in Carmichael Rail Network Pty Ltd v BBC Chartering Carriers GmbH & Co KG [2024] HCA 4. The case has ramifications on whether a foreign arbitration clause (in this case, the London arbitration clause) would be null and void under the scheme of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1991 (Cth) which makes effective an amended version of the International Convention on the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading, Brussels, 25 August 1924 (the “Hague Rules”). The argument focused on the potential effect of Article 3(8) of the Amended Hague Rules, which, like the original version, provides:

“Any clause, covenant, or agreement in a contract of carriage relieving the carrier or the ship from liability for loss or damage to, or in connection with, goods arising from negligent, fault, or failure in the duties and obligations provided in this article or lessening such liability otherwise than as provided in these Rules, shall be null and void and of no effect. A benefit of insurance in favour of the carrier or similar clause shall be deemed to be a clause relieving the carrier from liability”.

BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE

The case involved a carriage of head-hardened steel rails from Port of Whyalla in South Australia to the Port of Mackay in Queensland. When the goods arrived at the Port of Mackay, it was discovered that goods were in damaged conditions to the extent that they could not be used, and they had to be sold for scrap. A bill of lading issued by the carrier, BBC, containing the following clauses:

“3. Liability under the Contract

• Unless otherwise provided herein, the Hague Rules contained in the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Bills of Lading, dated Brussels the 25th August 1924 as enacted in the country of shipment shall apply to this Contract. When no such enactment is in force in the country of shipment, the corresponding legislation of the country of destination shall apply. In respect of shipments to which there are no such enactments compulsorily applicable, the terms of Articles I-VIII inclusive of said Convention shall apply….”

4. Law and Jurisdiction

Except as provided elsewhere herein, any dispute arising under or in connection with this Bill of Lading shall be referred to arbitration in London. The arbitration shall be conducted in accordance with the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) terms. The arbitration Tribunal is to consist of three arbitrators, one arbitrator to be appointed by each party and the two so appointed to appoint a third arbitrator. English law is to apply”.

The carrier, BBC, commenced arbitration in London according to Clause 4 of the bill of lading. Carmichael, on the other hand, commenced proceeding before the Federal Court of Australia to claim damages. Carmichael sought an anti-suit injunction to restrain the arbitration proceeding. BBC, on the other hand, sought a stay of the Australian proceeding.

ARGUMENTS IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Carmichael contended that Clause 4 should be null and void because of Article 3(8) of the Amended Hague Rules. First, there is a risk that London arbitrators will follow the position of the English law in Jindal Iron and Steel Co Ltd and Others v Islamic Solidarity Shipping Co. Jordan Inc (The “Jordan II”) [2004] UKHL 49 and found the carrier’s duty to properly stow and care for the cargo under Article 3(2) of the Hague Rules to be a delegable duty, as opposed to an inclination of the court in Australia, as shown in the New South Wales Court of Appeal decision in Nikolay Malakhov Shipping Co Ltd v SEAS Sapfor Ltd (1998) 44 NSWLR 371. Secondly, there is a risk that the London arbitrators would construe Clause 3 as incorporating Article I-III of the Hague Rules, instead of the Amended Hague Rules of Australia. This would result in reducing the package limitation defence. Thirdly, there would be more expenses and burdens on the part of Carmichael to have to pursue its claim against BBC in London.

REASONING OF THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Whether Article 3(8) is applicable, the High Court of Australia found as a matter of principle that the court must consider all circumstances (being past, present, or future) whether a contractual clause relieves or lessen the carrier’s liability. The standard of proof to be applied in considering such circumstances is the civil standard of the balance of probability. The court drew support from section 7(2) and section 7(5) of the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth), as the parties relied on this piece of legislation in seeking an anti-suit injunction or a stay of the proceeding. In section 7(2), the language is that the court “shall” stay the proceedings if a matter is capable of settlement by arbitration. In section 7(5), again, there is a word “shall” in that the court shall not stay the proceedings under subsection (2) if the court finds the arbitration agreement to be null and void. As the High Court of Australia emphasised in paragraph 25 of its judgment: “For an Australian court to ‘find’ an arbitration agreement null and void … it must be able to do so as a matter of law based on agreed, admitted, or proved fact”. Such proof is on the balance of probabilities pursuant to the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth). Moreover, the Amended Hague Rules in Australia ultimately has the nature of an international convention. The interpretation of which must be done within the framework of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 which requires that relevant rules of international law must be considered. The burden of proof which international tribunals usually adopt is that of “preponderance of evidence”, which is no less stringent than that of the balance of probabilities. This supports what the High Court of Australia found in paragraph 32 of its judgment that “references to a clause ‘relieving’ a carrier from liability or ‘lessening such liability’ are to be understood as referring to facts able to be found in accordance with the requisite degree of confidence…” Also, the High Court of Australia found the overall purpose of the Hague Rules is to provide a set of rules which are certain and predictable. Any attempt to apply Article 3(8) to the circumstances or facts which are not agreed or admitted or proved would run against the overall objective of the Hague Rules.

A reference was also made to an undertaking made by BBC before the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia that it would admit in the arbitration in London that the Amended Hague Rules would be applicable to the dispute and BBC did consent to the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia to make declaration to the same effect. It was argued by Carmichael that the undertaking and the subsequent declaration should not be considered because they came after BBC had commenced the arbitration pursuant to Clause 4. However, the High Court of Australia, emphasised in paragraph 59 that the agreed or admitted or proved facts at the time the court is deciding whether to engage Article 3(8) are what the courts consider. The effect of the undertaking and the declaration are that it should be amounted to the choice of law chosen by the parties within the meaning of section 46(1)(a) of the Arbitration Act 1996 and should effectively supersede the choice of the English law in Clause 4 of the bills of lading.

All the risks pointed out by Carmichael are unreal. First, the indication of the New South Wales Court of Appeal in the Nikolay Malakhov case in respect of Article 3(2) of the Hague Rules was not conclusive as it was obiter only. There is no clear legal position on this in Australia. Secondly, the language of Clause 3 is that Article I-VIII are to be applied if there are “no such enactments”. But the country of shipment in this case (namely Australia) enacts the Hague-Rules. Moreover, there is no ground for any concern in light of the undertaking and the declaration. Lastly, Article 3(8) of the Amended Hague Rules concerns with the carrier’s liability. It is not about the costs or burdens in the enforcement process. Hence, the Australian proceeding is to be stayed.

COMMENT

As the High Court of Australia emphasised, whether Article 3(8) of the Amended Hague Rules is to be engaged depending upon facts or circumstances at the time the court is deciding the question. This case was pretty much confined to its facts, as could be seen from the earlier undertaking and the declaration which the High Court of Australia heavily relied upon. Nevertheless, the door is not fully closed. There is a possibility that the foreign arbitration and the choice of law clause can be found to be null and void pursuant to Article 3(8) if the facts or circumstances are established on the balance of probabilities that the tribunals will apply the foreign law which has the effect of relieving or lessening the carrier’s liabilities.

In the Lafarge case (Cass. Crim., 16 janvier 2024, n°22-83.681, available here), the French Cour de cassation (chambre criminelle) recently rendered a ruling on some criminal charges against the French major cement manufacturer for its activities in Syria during the civil war. The decision addresses several key aspects of private international law in transnational criminal lawsuits and labour law.

From 2012 to September 2014, through a local subsidiary it indirectly controlled, the French company kept a cement plant operating in a Syrian territory exposed to the civil war. During the operation, the local employees were at risk of extortion and kidnapping by armed groups, notably the Islamic State. On these facts, in 2016, two French NGOs and 11 former Syrian employees of Lafarge’s Syrian subsidiary pressed criminal charges in French courts against the French mother company. Charges contend financing a terrorist group, complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, abusive exploitation of the labour of others as well as endangering the lives of others.

After lengthy procedural contortions, the chambre d’instruction of the Cour d’appel de Paris (the investigating judge) confirmed the indictments in a ruling dated May 18th, 2022.  Here, the part of the decision of most direct relevance to private international law concerns the last incrimination of endangering the lives of others. The charge, set out in Article 223-1 of the French Criminal Code, implicates the act of directly exposing another person to an immediate risk of death or injury likely to result in permanent mutilation or infirmity through the manifestly deliberate violation of a particular obligation of prudence or safety imposed by law or regulation. The chambre d’instruction found that the relationship between Lafarge and the Syrian workers was subject to French law, which integrates the obligations of establishing a single risk assessment report for workers’ health and safety (Articles R4121-1 and R4121-2 of the French Labour Code) and a mandatory safety training related to working conditions (Article R4141-13 of the French Labour Code). On this basis, it upheld the mother company’s indictment for violating the aforementioned prudence and safety obligations of the French Labour Code. Following this ruling, the Defendants petitioned to the French Supreme Court to have the charges annulled, arguing that French law did not apply to the litigious employment relationship.

By its decision of January 16, 2024, the French Cour de cassation (chambre criminelle) ruled partly in favour of the petitioner. By applying Article 8 of the Rome I regulation, it decided that the employment relationship between Lafarge and the Syrian workers was governed by Syrian law, so that, French law not being applicable, the conditions for application of Article 223-1 of the French Criminal Code were not met. Thus, the Cour de cassation quashed Lafarge’s indictment for endangering the lives of others, while upholding the remaining charges of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Lafarge case highlights the stakes of transnational criminal law and its interplay with private international law.

Because of the solidarity between criminal jurisdiction and legislative competence, the field is in principle exclusive of conflict of laws. However, this clear-cut frontier is often blurred.

In Lafarge, a conflict appeared incidentally via the specific incrimination of endangering the lives of others. In a transnational context, the key legal issue concerns the scope of the legal and regulatory obligations covered by the incrimination. A flexible interpretation including foreign law would lead to a (too) broad extension of French courts’ criminal jurisdiction. In the present decision, the Cour de cassation logically ruled, notably on the basis of the principle of strict interpretation of criminal law, that an obligation of prudence or safety within the meaning of Article 223-1 “necessarily refers to provisions of French law”.

Far from exhausting issues of private international law, this conclusion opens the door wide to conflict of laws. Indeed, the court then had to determine whether such French prudence or safety provisions applied to the case.

Under Article 8§2 of the Rome I regulation, absent an employment contract, the law applicable to the employment relationship between Lafarge and the Syrian workers should be the law of the country in which the employees habitually carry out their work –i.e. Syrian law. However, French law could be applicable in two situations: either if it appears that the employment relationships have a closer connection with France (article 8§4 Rome I), or because French law imposes overriding mandatory provisions (article 9 Rome I).

On the one hand, the Cour de cassation dismissed the argument that the employment relationship had a closer connection with France. Previously, the chambre d’instruction considered that the parent company’s permanent interference (“immixtion”) in the management of its Syrian subsidiary (based on a body of corroborating evidence, in particular, the subsidiary’s financial and operational dependence on the parent company, from which it was deduced that the latter was responsible for the plant’s safety) resulted in a closer connection between France and the employment contracts of the Syrian employees. Referring to the ECJ case law, which requires such connection to be assessed on the basis of the circumstances “as a whole”, the Supreme Court conversely held that considerations relating solely to the relationship between the parent company and its subsidiary were not sufficient to rule out the application of Syrian law. Ultimately, the Cour de cassation found that none of the alleged facts was such as to characterize closer links with France than with Syria.

On the other hand, the Cour de cassation rejected the characterization of Articles R4121-1, R4121-2 and R4141-13 of the French Labour Code as overriding mandatory provisions (“lois de police”). Here, the Criminal division of the Cour is adopting the solution set out by the Labour disputes division (chambre sociale) in an opinion issued on the present Lafarge case. In its opinion, the Social division noted that, while the above-mentioned provisions do indeed pursue a public interest objective of protecting the health and safety of workers, the conflict of laws rules set out in Article 8 Rome I are sufficient to ensure that the protection guaranteed by these provisions applies to workers whose contracts have enough connection with France -a questionable utterance in the light of the reasoning of the Cour de cassation in the decision under comment and its strict interpretation of the escape clause.

As a result, the employment relationship between Lafarge and the Syrian workers was governed by Syrian law, with French law not imposing any obligation of prudence or safety to the case. The Supreme court thereby concluded that the conditions for application of Article 223-1 of the French Criminal Code were not met.

The Lafarge decision will have broad implications for transnational litigations.

Firstly, the Cour de cassation confirms the strict interpretation of the escape clause in Article 8§4 of the Rome I regulation. Making extensive reference to the ECJ case law, the Court recalled that when applying Article 8§4, courts must take account of all the elements which define the employment relationship and single out one or more as being, in its view, the most significant (among them: the country in which the employee pays taxes on the income from his activity; the country in which he is covered by a social security scheme and pension, sickness insurance and invalidity schemes; as well as the parameters relating to salary determination and other working conditions).

More importantly, the French Supreme Court limits the consequences of parent companies’ interference (immixtion) in international labour relations and value chain governance. The criterion of interference is commonly used to try to lift the corporate veil for imputing obligations and liability directly to a parent company. By establishing that the parent company’s interference was insufficient to characterize the existence of a closer connection with France, the Cour de cassation circumscribes the spatial scope of French labour law and maintains the territorial compartmentalization of global value chains. It is regrettable, in that respect, that the Supreme court did not precisely discuss the nature of the relationship between Lafarge and the Syrian workers. This solution is nevertheless consistent with the similarly restrictive approach to co-employment adopted by the French courts, which requires a “permanent interference” by the parent company leading to a “total loss of autonomy of action” on the part of the subsidiary. Coincidentally, in the absence of overriding mandatory provisions, the ruling empties of all effectiveness similar transnational criminal actions based on Article 223-1 of the French Criminal Code.

While the Cour de cassation closed the door of criminal courts, French law on corporate duty of care (Loi n° 2017-399 du 27 mars 2017 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d’ordre) offers an effective alternative in the field of civil liability. The aim of this text is precisely to impose on lead companies a series of obligations purported to identify risks and prevent serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, human health and safety, and the environment, throughout the value chain. The facts of the Lafarge case are prior to the enactment of this law. Nevertheless, future litigations will likely prosper on this ground, all the more so with the forthcoming adoption of a European directive on mandatory corporate sustainability due diligence.

By Professor András Osztovits*

I. Introduction

The heart of European economic integration is the Single Market, which can only function properly and provide economic growth and thus social welfare if effective competition rules ensure a level playing field for market players. The real breakthrough in the development of EU competition policy in this area came with Regulation 1/2003/EC, and then with Directive 2014/104/EU which complemented the public law rules with private law instruments and made the possibility to bring actions for damages for infringement of competition law easier.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the CJEU has consistently sought in its case-law to make this private enforcement as effective as possible, overcoming the procedural and substantive problems that hinder it. It was the CJEU which, in the course of its case law, developed the concept of the economic unit, allowing victims to bring an action against the whole of the undertaking affected by the cartel infringement or against certain of its subsidiaries or to seek their joint liability.

The concept of an economic unit is generally understood to mean that a parent company and its subsidiary form an economic unit where the latter is essentially under the dominant influence of the former. The CJEU has reached the conclusion in its case law that an infringement of competition law entails the joint and several liability of the economic unit as a whole, which means that one member can be held liable for the acts of another member.

II. The question referred by the Hungarian Supreme Court

However, there is still no clear guidance from the CJEU as to whether the principle of economic unit can be interpreted and applied in the reverse case, i.e. whether a parent company can rely on this concept in order to establish the jurisdiction of the courts where it has its registered seat to hear and determine its claim for damages for the harm suffered by its subsidiaries. This was the question raised by the Hungarian Supreme Court (Kúria) in a preliminary ruling procedure, in which this issue was raised as a question of jurisdiction. More precisely Article 7 (2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation had to be interpreted, according to which a person domiciled in a Member State may be sued in another Member State, ‘in matters relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict, in the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred or may occur’.

The facts of the case were well suitable for framing and answering this question. The applicant is a company established in Hungary. It is either the majority shareholder or holds another form of exclusive controlling power over a number of companies established in other EU Member States. During the infringement period identified by the Commission in its decision of 19 July 2016, those subsidiaries purchased indirectly, either as owners or under a financial leasing arrangement, 71 trucks from the defendant in several Member States.

The applicant requested, before the Hungarian first-instance court, that the defendant be ordered to pay EUR 530 851 with interest and costs, arguing that this was the amount that its subsidiaries had overpaid as a consequence of the anticompetitive conduct established in the Commission Decision. Relying on the concept of an economic unit, it asserted the subsidiaries’ claims for damages against the defendant. For that purpose, it sought to establish the jurisdiction of the Hungarian courts based on Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1215/2012, claiming that its registered office, as the centre of the group’s economic and financial interests, was the place where the harmful event, within the meaning of that provision, had ultimately occurred. The defendant objected on the ground that the Hungarian courts lacked jurisdiction. The courts of first and second instance found that they lacked jurisdiction, but the Curia, which had been asked to review the case, had doubts about the interpretation of Article 7(2) of the Regulation and referred the case to the CJEU.

III. The Opinion of Advocate General

In his Opinion delivered on 8 February 2024, Advocate General Nicholas Emiliou concluded that the term ‘the place where the harmful event occurred’, within the meaning of Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1215/2012, does not cover the registered office of the parent company that brings an action for damages for the harm caused solely to that parent company’s subsidiaries by the anticompetitive conduct of a third party.

In his analysis, the Advocate General first examined the jurisdictional regime of the Brussels Ia Regulation, then the connecting factors in the context of actions for damages for infringements of Article 101 TFEU, and finally the question of whether the place of the parent company’s seat can be the place where the damage occurred in the case of damage suffered by a subsidiary. He recalled that, according to the relevant case-law of the CJEU, rules of jurisdiction other than the general rule must be interpreted restrictively, including Article 7. He pointed out that ‘the place where the harmful event occurred’ within the meaning of that provision does not cover the place where the assets of an indirect victim are affected. In the Dumez case, two French companies, having their registered offices in Paris (France), set up subsidiaries in Germany in order to pursue a property development project. However, German banks withdrew their financing, which lead to those subsidiaries becoming insolvent. The French parent companies sought to sue the German banks in Paris, arguing that this was the place where they experienced the resulting financial loss. According to the Advocate General, the applicant in the present action is also acting as an indirect victim, since it is seeking compensation for damage which first affected another legal person.

Recalling the connecting factors in actions for damages for infringement of Article 101 TFEU, the Advocate General pointed out that there were inconsistencies in the case law of the CJEU, which needed to be clarified in a forthcoming judgment. Both types of specific connecting factors (place of purchase and the victim’s registered seat) could justify the application of the rule of jurisdiction under Article 7(2) of the Regulation. The Advocate General referred to the Volvo judgment, where the CJEU qualified ‘the place where the damage occurred’ is the place, within the affected market, where the goods subject to the cartel were purchased. The Court has simultaneously reaffirmed, in the same judgment, the ongoing relevance of the alleged victim’s registered office, in cases where multiple purchases were made in different places. According to the Advocate General, the applicant seeks to extend the application of that connecting factor to establish jurisdiction in relation to its claim in which it seeks compensation for harm suffered solely by other members of its economic unit.

The Advocate General referred to the need for predictability in the determination of the forum in cartel proceedings, although he acknowledged that when it comes to determining the specific place ‘where the harm occurred’, the pursuit of the predictability of the forum becomes to some extent illusory in the context of a pan-European cartel.

In examining the Brussels Ia Regulation, the Advocate General recalled that it only provides additional protection for the interests of the weaker party in consumer, insurance and individual contracts of employment, but that cartel victims are not specifically mentioned in the Regulation, and therefore, in its interpretation, the interests of the claimants and defendants must be considered equivalent. Even so, the parent company has a wide range of options for claiming, the victim can initiate the action not only against the parent company that is the addressee of the respective Commission decision establishing an infringement but also against a subsidiary within that parent company’s economic unit. That creates the possibility of an additional forum and may therefore further facilitate enforcement. The victim also has the option of bringing proceedings before the court of the defendant’s domicile under the general rule of jurisdiction, which, while suffering the disadvantages of travel, allows him to claim the full damages in one proceeding. In these circumstences, the Advocate General failed to see in what way the current jurisdictional rules fundamentally prevent the alleged victims of anticompetitive conduct from asserting their rights.

IV. In the concept of economic unit we (don’t) trust?

Contrary to the Advocate General’s opinion, several difficulties can be seen which may prevent the victim parent companies from enforcing their rights if they cannot rely on Article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation. The additional costs arising from geographical distances and different national procedural systems may in themselves constitute a non-negligible handicap to the enforcement of rights, although this is true for both parties to the litigation. However, the aim must be to minimise the procedural and substantive obstacles to these types of litigation, whose economic and regulatory background makes them inherently more difficult and thus longer in time. It is also true that the real issue at stake in this case is the substantive law underlying the jurisdictional element: whether the parent company can claim in its own name for the damage caused to its subsidiaries on the basis of the principle of economic unit. If so, then Article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation applies and it can bring these claims in the court of its own registered office. Needless to say, having a single action for damages in several Member States is much better and more efficient from a procedural point of view, and is therefore an appropriate outcome from the point of view of EU competition policy and a more desirable outcome for the functioning of the Single Market. The opportunity is there for the CJEU to move forward and further improve the effectiveness of competition law, even if this means softening somewhat the relevant jurisprudence of the Brussels Ia Regulation, which has interpreted the special jurisdictional grounds more restrictive than the general jurisdiction rules. The EU legislator should also consider introducing a special rule of jurisdiction for cartel damages in the next revision of the Brussels Ia Regulation at the latest.

The fullt text of the opinion is available here (original language: English)

*Dr. András Osztovits, Professor at Károli Gáspár University, Budapest, Hungary, osztovits.andras@kre.hu.  He was member of the chamber of the Hungarian Supreme Court (Kúria) that initiated this preliminary procedure. Here, the author is presenting his own personal views only.

The third issue of the Journal of Private International Law for 2023 has just been published. It contains the following articles:

Chukwuma Samuel Adesina Okoli & Abubakri Yekini, “Implied jurisdiction agreements in international commercial contracts: a global comparative perspective”

This article examines the principles of implied jurisdiction agreements and their validity on a global scale. While the existing scholarly literature primarily focuses on express jurisdiction agreements, this study addresses the evident lack of scholarly research works on implied jurisdiction agreements. As such, it contributes to an understanding of implied jurisdiction agreements, providing valuable insights into their practical implications for international commercial contracts. The paper’s central question is whether implied jurisdiction agreements are globally valid and should be enforced. To answer this question, the article explores primary and secondary sources from various jurisdictions around the world, including common law, civil law, and mixed legal systems, together with insights from experts in commercial conflict of laws. The paper argues for a cautious approach to the validity of implied jurisdiction agreements, highlighting their potential complexities and uncertainties. It contends that such agreements may lead to needless jurisdictional controversies and distract from the emerging global consensus on international jurisdiction grounds. Given these considerations, the paper concludes that promoting clear and explicit jurisdiction agreements, as supported by the extant international legal frameworks, such as the Hague Conventions of 2005 and 2019, the EU Brussels Ia Regulation, and the Lugano Convention, would provide a more predictable basis for resolving cross-border disputes.

Veena Srirangam,  “The governing law of contribution claims: looking beyond Roberts v SSAFA”

The governing law of claims for contribution, where the applicable law of the underlying claim is a foreign law, has long posed a knotty problem in English private international law. The Supreme Court’s decision in Roberts v Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association considered this issue in the context of the common law choice of law rules. This article considers the decision in Roberts and claims for contribution falling within the scope of the Rome II Regulation, the Rome I Regulation as well as the Hague Trusts Convention. It is argued here that claims for contribution arising out of the same liability should be considered as “parasitic” on the underlying claim and should prima facie be governed by the applicable law of the underlying claim.

Weitao Wong, “A principled conflict of laws characterisation of fraud in letters of credit”

This article examines how the issue of fraud in letters of credit (which constitutes a critical exception to the autonomy principle) should be characterised in a conflict of laws analysis; and consequently, which law should apply to determine if fraud has been established. It argues that the fraud issue has thus far been incorrectly subsumed within the letter of credit contract, rather than being correctly characterised as a separate and independent issue. On the basis of fundamental conflict of laws principles and policies, this article advocates that the fraud issue should be characterised separately as a tortious/delictual issue. It then discusses how some of the difficulties of such a conflicts characterisation may be adequately addressed.

Zlatan Meški, Anita Durakovi, Jasmina Alihodži, Shafiqul Hassan & Šejla Handali?, “Recognition of talaq in European states – in search of a uniform approach”

The paper aims to answer the question if and under which conditions a talaq performed in an Islamic state may be recognised in European states. The authors provide an analysis of various forms of talaq performed in different Islamic states and reach conclusions on the effects that may be recognised in Europe, with an outlook towards a possible uniform approach. The recognition of talaqs in England and Wales, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina are used as examples for different solutions to similar problems before European courts. The EU legislator has not adopted a uniform approach to the application and recognition of talaqs in the EU. The CJEU got it wrong in Sahyouni II and missed the opportunity to contribute to a uniform EU policy but its subsequent decision in TB opens the door for the CJEU to overturn Sahyouni II if another case concerning a non-EU talaq divorce comes before them. The Hague Divorce Convention of 1970 is an international instrument that provides for appropriate solutions. Ratification by more states in which a talaq is a legally effective form of divorce and by more European states would provide the much-needed security for families moving from Islamic states to Europe.

Sharon Shakargy, “Capacitating personal capacity: cross-border regulation of guardianship alternatives for adults”

Increasing global mobility of people with disabilities, changes in the measures employed to protect them, and growing awareness of their human rights significantly challenge the existing cross-border protection of adults around the world. National legislations are slow to react to this challenge, and the existing solutions are often insufficient. While the Hague Convention on the Protection of Adults (2000) is imperfect, it offers a solution to this problem. This article discusses the changing approach towards people with disabilities and their rights and demonstrates the incompatibility of the local protection of adults with their cross-border protection. The article further explores possible solutions to this problem. It then explains why the Hague Adults Convention is the best solution to this problem and what changes should and could be made in order to improve the solution offered by the Convention even further.

Anna Natalia Schulz, “The principle of the best interests of the child and the principle of mutual trust in the justice systems of EU Member States – Return of a child in cross-border cases within the EU in the light of EU Council Regulation 2019/1111 and the situation in Poland”

The suspension of the enforcement of a return order under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and EU law, as well as the admissibility of modifying such an order, remains one of the most sensitive matters in cross-border family disputes. The article analyses EU Council Regulations 2201/2003 (Brussels IIa) and 2019/1111 (Brussels IIb) in terms of the objectives set by the EU legislator: strengthening the protection of the interests of the child and mutual trust of Member States in their justice systems. The text also refers to Polish law as an example of the evolution of the approach to the analysed issues. It presents its development, highlights the solutions concerning the competences of the Ombudsman for Children, and provides an assessment of the current legal situation in the context of Brussels IIb.

Bich Ngoc Du, “Practical application of the reciprocity principle in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters in Vietnam”

The reciprocity principle was first introduced in Vietnam by Decree 83/1998 to allow for the recognition of foreign non-executionary judgments, decisions on family and marriage matters in Vietnam. It was then adapted in the first Civil Procedure Code in 2004 and was later modified in the current Civil Procedure Code for the purpose of recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments from non-treaty countries. This article examines the practical application of this reciprocity principle in Vietnamese courts by analysing cases in which they have recognised or denied recognition to foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters (that is, non-family matters), as well as a recent development in the Supreme Court’s Resolution Draft on guidance on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, which adopts a presumed reciprocity approach. The article concludes that the courts have not applied the reciprocity principle in a consistent manner. The resolution for this current problem is for the presumed reciprocity approach to be promulgated soon to facilitate a uniform application in the local courts.

Meltem Ece Oba, “Procedural issues in international bankruptcy under Turkish law”

This article examines the procedural issues in a bankruptcy lawsuit with a foreign element from a Turkish private international law perspective. The article begins with a brief overview of the bankruptcy procedure under Turkish domestic law. It then explores the jurisdiction of Turkish courts in an international bankruptcy lawsuit in detail. The effects of a foreign choice of court agreement and parallel proceedings are also addressed in discussing the international jurisdiction of Turkish courts. The article also touches upon the debates on the possible legal grounds for the inclusion of assets located abroad to the bankruptcy estate established before Turkish courts considering the approaches of universalism and territorialism. Finally, problems related to the recognition of foreign bankruptcy decisions are examined.

Review Article:

Uglješa Grušic?, “Transboundary pollution at the intersection of private and public international law”

This article reviews Guillaume Laganière’s Liability for Transboundary Pollution at the Intersection of Public and Private International Law (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022). This book makes a valuable contribution to private international law scholarship by exploring the relationship between public and private international law and the regulatory function of private international law in relation to transboundary pollution. The book’s focus on transboundary pollution, however, is narrow. A comprehensive and nuanced regulatory response to contemporary environmental challenges in private international law must also address cases where transnational corporations and global value chains are sued in their home states for environmental damage caused in developing states

The following announcement has been shared with us by the Child Support Forum.

The Child Support Forum is pleased to invite every interested stakeholder to an open conference deepening the topic of cross-border maintenance recovery by public bodies.

Due to the increase in international mobility of families, the need for immediate child support in case of default of maintenance payment is growing. This support often consists of advance maintenance payments granted by public authorities, which then must be reimbursed by the debtor. The enormous sums of money that states spend on these benefits make the cross-border enforcement of maintenance by public bodies an important political issue.

The first three meetings of the Child Support Forum showed that there is a great need for exchange between the public bodies. On the one hand, they face different hurdles in enforcing their claims due to the diversity of the maintenance support systems. On the other hand, common problems were also identified. The results of this work will be presented.

In a future perspective, it is clear that the tension between the need for more support for children, for an effective recovery of maintenance against debtors, and debtor protection is growing. It will be interesting to discuss to what extent the States make the grant of benefits dependent on the legal possibilities for reimbursement. For example, in the light of the text of the 2007 Convention and of the EU-Maintenance Regulation, public bodies currently have less support from Central Authorities when they seek reimbursement of maintenance support than children do when they claim child maintenance. Thus, the question arises as to whether debtor protection still justifies this legal situation and how maintenance debtors can be protected from double claims when it is no longer the child alone but a public body that seeks the recovery of maintenance payments.

The conference will mark the end of a series of three seminars on the topic of maintenance recovery by public bodies and is intended to provide insight into its socio-political and legal aspects as well as a unique opportunity for exchange with experts from different fields (academics, Central Authorities, public bodies from different countries).

The conference program can be downloaded here.
To register, please click here