Tutorial 1 - Introduction to Private International Law
Just because you are English doesn’t mean that if you go somewhere else that you still have
English jurisdiction. Then it is a case of Private International Law.
Conflicts of Law/PIL
International jurisdiction - applicable law - recognition & enforcement of foreign jugdments
Establishing forum - lex fori (national law)/foreign law - rules on it so MS can control it
National law - EU law - international law
Task 1 - Theory: core terminology
A
1. Recognition of foreign judgments is the recognition and enforcement in one jurisdiction of
judgments rendered in another ("foreign") jurisdiction. Foreign judgments may be recognized
based on bilateral or multilateral treaties or understandings, or unilaterally without an
express international agreement.
2. European law can refer to the historical, institutional and intellectual elements that
European legal systems tend to have in common; in this sense it is more or less equivalent
to Western law. More commonly and more specifically, however, European law refers to the
supranational law, especially of the European Union, that unites most of the national legal
systems within Europe.
3. European Private International Law is designed to reflect the reality of legal practice
throughout the EU. The private international law of the Member States is increasingly
regulated by the EU, making private international law ever less 'national' and ever more EU
based.
4. Conflict of laws (mostly used in common law) or Private International Law (mostly used in
civil law) concerns relations across different legal jurisdictions between persons, and
sometimes also companies, corporations and other legal entities.
5. International Law is the body of law that governs the legal relations between or among
states or nations.
6. International jurisdiction refers to the fact that the courts of a given country will be the
most
appropriate to hear and determine a case that has an international dimension. A dispute has
an international dimension where, for example, the parties have different nationalities or are
not resident in the same country. In such a situation the courts of several countries might
have
jurisdiction in the case, and we have what is known as a conflict of jurisdiction. The rules of
international jurisdiction lay down criteria for determining the country whose courts will have
jurisdiction in the case.
Just because you are English doesn’t mean that if you go somewhere else that you still have
English jurisdiction. Then it is a case of Private International Law.
Conflicts of Law/PIL
International jurisdiction - applicable law - recognition & enforcement of foreign jugdments
Establishing forum - lex fori (national law)/foreign law - rules on it so MS can control it
National law - EU law - international law
Task 1 - Theory: core terminology
A
1. Recognition of foreign judgments is the recognition and enforcement in one jurisdiction of
judgments rendered in another ("foreign") jurisdiction. Foreign judgments may be recognized
based on bilateral or multilateral treaties or understandings, or unilaterally without an
express international agreement.
2. European law can refer to the historical, institutional and intellectual elements that
European legal systems tend to have in common; in this sense it is more or less equivalent
to Western law. More commonly and more specifically, however, European law refers to the
supranational law, especially of the European Union, that unites most of the national legal
systems within Europe.
3. European Private International Law is designed to reflect the reality of legal practice
throughout the EU. The private international law of the Member States is increasingly
regulated by the EU, making private international law ever less 'national' and ever more EU
based.
4. Conflict of laws (mostly used in common law) or Private International Law (mostly used in
civil law) concerns relations across different legal jurisdictions between persons, and
sometimes also companies, corporations and other legal entities.
5. International Law is the body of law that governs the legal relations between or among
states or nations.
6. International jurisdiction refers to the fact that the courts of a given country will be the
most
appropriate to hear and determine a case that has an international dimension. A dispute has
an international dimension where, for example, the parties have different nationalities or are
not resident in the same country. In such a situation the courts of several countries might
have
jurisdiction in the case, and we have what is known as a conflict of jurisdiction. The rules of
international jurisdiction lay down criteria for determining the country whose courts will have
jurisdiction in the case.
