Private International Law

In a private international law context reflecting significant divergences between the objective choice-of-law rules for matrimonial property regimes, the principle of party autonomy appears as a salutary solution, bringing certainty, predictability and simplicity, while satisfying also the spouses' substantial interests. The study focuses on the rules devoted to this principle by the European legislator in the (EU) Regulation no 2016/1103, attempting to outline its regime and insisting, particularly, on its admissibility and on the limitations that accompany its practical exercise. Providing a sufficient framework for discussion and helping to illustrate the implications of the European text, the rules of the Romanian Civil Code and of the 1978 Hague Convention on the law applicable to matrimonial property regimes will serve as a benchmark. Keywords: matrimonial property regimes, EU Regulation no 2016/1103, autonomy of will, electio juris agreements, states with more than one legal system, change of the applicable law.

The present chapter aims to address the role and meaning of public policy in Turkish private international law. It also elaborates on general practice of Turkish courts in application of public policy to a number of issues, including personal status, family law and law of obligations. The chapter concludes with an evaluation that advocates adoption of a more liberal approach to public policy by Turkish courts.

This paper examines the idea that commercial law has the capacity to evolve spontaneously in the absence of a clear state authority because of its unique nature. I argue that the manner of interaction implied by commerce plays a crucial role in this ability as it involves a high degree of overall engagement. This I term “high engagement,” which I divide into two elements: repetition and the creation of clear cycles of interaction. Together they produce identifiable legal norms and subsequent compliance. Game theorists have long recognized the importance of repeated interaction in inducing cooperation; however, how the manner of commercial interaction itself facilitates this process has been left largely unexamined. Part I presents a brief overview of the concept of reciprocity and spontaneous law theory. In Part II, a more detailed explanation of the notion of high engagement is offered. Here I set out exactly how high engagement is instrumental in the emergence of legal norms. Finally, the paper concludes that the element of high engagement indeed plays a decisive role in commercial law’s ability to evolve and function in a decentralized, spontaneous fashion—an important insight in terms of the future international development of the modern law merchant as it emerges in the absence of a single legislative authority.

It is a wellknown
principle that a taxpayer has the right to manage his affairs within the parameters of the law to his best advantage to pay
the least amount of tax.
This principle is further endorsed in the constitution. Section 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 provides that every
citizen has the right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely. Section 25(1) provides that "no one may be deprived of property
except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property".
Accordingly, where a taxpayer has arranged his affairs within the ambit of existing laws, and without an active purpose of defrauding the
relevant revenue authorities, a retrospective amendment to tax legislation prima facie infringes on that taxpayer's right to economic freedom
and the right to property.
In Krok v Commissioner, South African Revenue Service (2015 (6) SA 317 (SCA)), the supreme court of appeal was called upon to rule on
the correctness of a preservation order that was granted by the high court (Commissioner, South African Revenue Service v Krok 2014 (3) SA
453 (GP)) in terms of the doubletax
agreement between the Republic of South Africa and Australia in respect of taxes that arose before the
amendments to the agreement took effect. Simply put, the court was called upon to rule on the retrospective effect of the said amendments.
In the course of the litigation the validity of the transfer of property situated in South Africa, but allegedly transferred under an agreement
concluded in the British Virgin Islands, also had to be considered. The supreme court of appeal did not explicitly recognize this as a conflict of
law or private international law problem and applied South African common law. The approach followed by the court will be critically evaluated.

This article shows that the traditional institutional mandatory approach to family and succession law in recent years there have been developments towards the admission of choice of law in these fields of private international law and that the choice of law performed by parties has a very important role to play. It analyzes the admission of choice of law in conflict-of-law rules in the respective Czech legislation and EU regulations, concluding that the scope for choosing applicable law in the EU instruments is rather limited, however that it grants parties an option to designate the law that they feel most connected to and comfortable with and balances the lack of uniform approach to conflict-of-law rules across the EU regulations in the field of international family law.

В статье анализируется применение норм международного частного права в юридической практике Республики Сингапур. Рассматривается место норм международного частного права в правовой системе Сингапура и их влияние на правоприменительную практику. Особенности сингапурской правовой системы демонстрируют успешное нормативно-правовое сочетание элементов англосаксонской и континентальной правовых семей, а также особое место
в этой системе норм международного частного права. Автор предлагает проанализировать особенности решения в судебной практике Сингапура вопросов, связанных с выбором места судебного разбирательства и выбором применимого права.

Tematem opracowania jest zdolność sądowa oddziałów przedsiębiorców zagranicznych w aspekcie prawnoporównawczym. Pojęcie zdolności sądowej wprawdzie należy do elementów prawa procesowego cywilnego, jednak wykazuje ścisłe związki z prawem materialnym. Autor krytycznie ocenia nurt w orzecznictwie sądów powszechnych skłaniający się ku odrzucaniu pozwów w sprawach z udziałem przedsiębiorcy zagranicznego.

In the judicial practice of Polish common courts there is a statistically significant tendency to reject the suit every time when a branch of an enterprise participates in the proceedings. Not only does it hamper the international legal transactions, but also it occurs defective in the light of both the Polish and foreign laws. The courts of many countries, including among others the Federal Republic of Germany, Republic of Austria, Italian Republic and the United States of America, are trying to convalidate proceedings impaired because of participation of the branch instead of the parent company, as they permit the re-interpretation of parties' submissions as well as correction of the parties' designation throughout the ongoing litigation. The right resolution in the majority of cases in which a branch of a foreign entrepreneur becomes a party to the civil lawsuit seems to be to empower the court to make its own interpretation as to the designation of a branch as an alleged “party to the proceedings” and to uphold the proceedings.

We often think about justice and social change in terms of refinement and better implementation of legal or economic theories and categories. Justice and change are often understood as more accountability and participation, as resistance to free movement/ autonomy considerations and an emphasis on social ones, as resistance to the ‘the market’, as a general protection of the weaker party, or a better theory or alignment of the entire legal system with general constitutional values and principles. Change is expected to follow from an overtly political discourse that should free us from the shackles of legal language and enable the concerns of the people to be voiced.
However, "Justice" cannot be understood in terms of any theory or concept. The word justice only makes sense because of the current unjust reality. Justice should be understood dynamically, as constant social transformation. Legal thinking misses the hierarchical structure of society and when considering justice too often assumes an abstract category or theory that can bring about “justice”.
For example, it is generally assumed in legal consciousness that the identity of the weaker party can be generalised and predetermined. Beside its reliance on constitutionalism and on conceptual understanding of the legal structure, the conceptualism of contemporary legal thought, this was one of the main weaknesses of the European Social Justice Manifestos. A legal system favoring an abstract “weaker party” is bound to struggle with concerns of justice. 
We cannot rely on any theory or worldview when thinking about justice. Such thinking about "justice" often contributes to the reproduction of existing hierarchies - to the reproduction of the status quo, particularly when (hierarchical) reality is interpreted according to existing ideology. Justice means a dynamic change of the currently unjust hierarchical reality that needs to be constantly constructed and reconstructed. The aim of social transformation cannot be a final solution, a perfect social order, or ubiquitous affirmations of ‘social’ considerations, nor a stable state of justice, but rather a constant pursuit of “justice”.

Tıp ve teknoloji alanındaki gelişmeler, sağlık problemleri veya biyolojik nedenlerle çocuk sahibi olamayan kişilerin taşıyıcı annelik yöntemiyle çocuk sahibi olmalarını sağlamıştır. Ancak Türkiye’nin de aralarında bulunduğu pek çok ülkede taşıyıcı anneliğe izin verilmemektedir. Hayatlarını sürdürdükleri ülkede taşıyıcı annelik uygulamasından yararlanamayan kişilerin, bu uygulamaya izin verilen ülkelere giderek çocuk sahibi olmaları ise mümkündür. “Sınıraşan taşıyıcı annelik” olarak adlandırılan bu durum, milletlerarası özel hukuk açısından çeşitli hukuki sorunlara yol açmaktadır. Bu çalışmada Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi’nin sınıraşan taşıyıcı annelikle ilgili kararları milletlerarası özel hukuk ve Türk kamu düzeni perspektifinden incelenecektir.

Οι υποθέσεις γονικής μέριμνας καταλαμβάνουν περιορισμένης έ-κτασης τμήμα της συνολικής θεματικής για την αναγνώριση και εκτέ-λεση αλλοδαπών αποφάσεων. Στο πεδίο της προσωπικής κατάστασης έρχονται τρίτες σε συχνότητα εμφάνισης, ύστερα από τις διαφορές διαζυγίου και διατροφής. Οι αιτήσεις αναγνώρισης και εκτέλεσης πρέπει να εξετάζονται στη βάση της τετραμερούς διάκρισης των νο-μοθετικών καθεστώτων, και συγκεκριμένα στα ακόλουθα τέσσερα επίπεδα: Κοινοτικό, πολυμερές συμβατικό, διμερές συμβατικό, και εσωτερικό δίκαιο (ΚΠολΔ). Θα προηγηθεί σύντομη περιήγηση στους δυνητικά εφαρμοστέους κανόνες δικαίου (υπό Α), και θα ακολουθή-σει η παράθεση της σχετικής νομολογίας (υπό Β).

The following pages present a general analysis of a key issue: the relationship between business
and human rights as one of the most salient aspects of global governance. Thus, after an
introductory section in which the link between the subject matter and private international law is
especially emphasized, in the following one an attempt is made to define such governance, also
highlighting the prominence in it of the great economic operators, along with the growing one that
corresponds in a number of ways to civil society. Then, providing multiple data and based on an
extensive literature review, the third and fourth sections, respectively, aim at determining the
entity in our world of multinational companies and their capacity to generate conflicts, and the
control mechanisms used in this regard. This work culminates with a section on final observations
in which a new paradigm is put on the record, the effective taking into consideration of the interests
of those affected in fact or potentially by business activities, the stakeholders. Something that would
undoubtedly support global governance in the best terms.

SUMARIO: I. INTRODUCCIÓN. II. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS: PAISAJE DESPUÉS
DE LA BATALLA. A. Un apunte sobre Kiobel. B. Un futuro por definir. III. ¿SALE
EUROPA DE SU LETARGO? A. En general. B. La dimensión competencial. C. El
derecho aplicable. IV. UN TOQUE DE EXTRATERRITORIALIDAD. A. Las
llamadas ETOS. B. Juego de las leyes extraterritoriales. V. VARIA. A. El sector
extractivo. B. España: El llamado Plan Nacional de Empresas y Derechos Humanos.
VI. ALGUNAS REFLEXIONES FINALES.

While it is not common to use the Virtual Store by
Spanish firms in the olive oil sector, its use may
result in an increase of exports, which requires
addressing carefully the characteristics appearing in
this particular form of online contracting.
International electronic contracting of olive oil does
not show peculiarities with regard to the general or
common scheme established by the current
Spanish regulations. Nevertheless, online
international contracts, specifically, through an
Online Store, have a set of particularities from the
perspective of its legal regime, which are mainly
related with the fact that these are contracts with
general terms and conditions.

Sumario: I. Breve aproXimación del tema; II. Marco normativo. l. El convenio bilateral argentino-uruguayo sobre accidentes de tránsito de 1991. 2. Los Tratados de Montevideo de Derecho Civil de 1889 V 1940. 3. Las normas de dimensión autónoma; III. Los hechos del caso; IV. La decisión judicial; V. Análisis del caso. 1. Fuente normativa. 2. Ambitos de aplicación de las fuentes. 3. Jurisdicción internacional. 4. Derecho aplicable. 5. Cuestiones de cooperación; VI. Conclusiones.

In June 2013, the Court of Justice of the EU dealt with the compatibility of Portuguese corporate groups law, in particular the liability of the parent company, with EU law. The Court elaborated on what is believed to be an inaccurate account of Portuguese law; ignored the domestic scholarly debate on the subject matter; and consequently disregarded the indispensable coherence of the regulation of groups of companies in its entirety.

Keywords: groups of companies; freedom of establishment; liability of parent company.

This book presents the latest research on the challenges and solutions affecting the equilibrium between freedom of speech, freedom of information, information security, and the right to informational privacy. Given the complexity of the topics addressed, the book shows how old legal and ethical frameworks may need to be not only updated, but also supplemented and complemented by new conceptual solutions. Neither a conservative attitude (“more of the same”) nor a revolutionary zeal (“never seen before”) is likely to lead to satisfactory solutions. Instead, more reflection and better conceptual design are needed, not least to harmonise different perspectives and legal frameworks internationally. The focus of the book is on how we may reconcile high levels of information security with robust degrees of informational privacy, also in connection with recent challenges presented by phenomena such as “big data” and security scandals, as well as new legislation initiatives, such as those concerning “the right to be forgotten” and the use of personal data in biomedical research. The book seeks to offer analyses and solutions of the new tensions, in order to build a fair, shareable, and sustainable balance in this vital area of human interactions.

Mais de 90% do comércio internacional é realizado por meio de transportes marítimos, sendo a indústria da navegação uma das maiores do mundo em geração de riquezas e de empregos. Paralelamente, é uma das atividades potencialmente poluidora ao meio ambiente marinho, uma vez que mais de 50% da carga comercializada é considerada perigosa ou nociva. Atualmente, os transportes marítimos são responsáveis por 12% da poluição marinha, que podem ocorrer em águas territoriais ou águas internacionais. Por sua vez, a lei da bandeira ou do pavilhão constitui um elemento de conexão importante para se determinar a responsabilidade do agente causador do dano. Contudo, há a possibilidade de os navios arvorarem outra bandeira que não a de sua nacionalidade, além das bandeiras de conveniência. Desse modo, o presente artigo objetiva estudar a responsabilidade civil extracontratual por danos ambientais marinhos causados por transportes marítimos nas situações privadas internacionais à luz do direito brasileiro, considerando-se os danos em águas territoriais e em alto-mar, limitando-se à análise de casos de poluição por óleo e outras substâncias nocivas ou perigosas. A partir da análise qualitativa, o texto discute questões referentes à nacionalidade do
navio, e os problemas referentes à responsabilização dos navios que utilizam bandeiras de conveniência. Analisa as regras de direito internacional privado quanto à lei aplicável na responsabilidade extracontratual e a adoção da lex damni aos casos de danos ambientais. Com relação à competência internacional, aplica-se a regra do forum damni, a fim de oferecer maior segurança e previsibilidade aos litígios transfronteiriços. Todavia, ainda há necessidade de se aperfeiçoar a cooperação jurídica transfronteiriça em matéria ambiental.

In Iran v. Berend, the High Court in London had occasion to revisit one of the most enduring problems of private international law and cultural property. Effec-tive regulation of the illicit market in cultural property is extremely difficult, be-cause many measures aimed at stemming the illicit ...

Υποθέσεις διατροφής με διασυνοριακό χαρακτήρα απασχολούν σταθερά τα δικαστήρια της χώρας. Εμφανίζονται είτε ως διαφορές που ξεκινούν ενώπιον των ελληνικών δικαστηρίων (συνεπώς δικάζονται κατά τη διαδικασία των άρθρων 592 επ. ΚΠολΔ), είτε ως διαφορές που καταλήγουν σε αυτά, ύστερα από την έκδοση απόφασης στην αλλοδαπή, και την υποβολή αίτησης για την κήρυξη αυτής εκτελεστής στην Ελλάδα (συνεπώς δικάζονται κατά τη διαδικασία της εκούσιας δικαιοδοσίας). Η πρώτη κατηγορία παρουσιάζει αυξημένη, ενώ η δεύτερη περιορισμένη συχνότητα.

Στο πλαίσιο του παρόντος μελετήματος θα επιχειρηθεί σύντομη επισκόπηση της δεύτερης θεματικής, επικεντρώνοντας το ενδιαφέρον μας στις αλλοδαπές αποφάσεις που εκδόθηκαν από δικαστήρια κρατών-μελών της ΕΕ, καθώς αποδεικνύεται ότι η πλειοψηφία των δημοσιευμένων αποφάσεων προέρχεται από τον ενω-σιακό χώρο. Σχετικά ισχύει ο Κανονισμός (ΕΚ) αριθ. 4/2009 του Συμβουλίου, της 18ης Δεκεμβρίου 2008, για τη διεθνή δικαιοδοσία, το εφαρμοστέο δίκαιο, την αναγνώριση και εκτέλεση αποφάσεων και τη συνερ-γασία σε θέματα υποχρεώσεων διατροφής.

The Members of the Hague Conference on Private
International Law formally approved on 19 March 2015
the Principles of Choice of Law in International Commercial
Contracts. The ‘‘Principles’’ technically speaking
comprise 12 well-written and simple articles and a
comprehensive commentary of 65 pages.
The text of the Principles in itself is without surprise: the
Principles affirm party autonomy as a basis for the
choice of law in international commercial contracts.
They give a party the ultimate power to choose the law.
And from one Boston law firm attorney’s perspective
‘‘the Principles are tre`s franc¸ais’’. The Principles are
also ‘‘tre`s ame´ricains’’ from a French lawyer point of
view, being resolutely pragmatic and for example
regulating the practical question of the ‘‘battle of
forms’’. They aim to strengthen legal certainty and
predictability according to the law applicable to international
commercial contracts.
Much more astonishing is their authority: they constitute
‘‘best practice’’ on the choice of law. As such the
Principles aim to facilitate reform and national orregional harmonisation initiatives binding on the states’
courts concerning the conflict of law rules applicable to
international trade. But more importantly, the Principles
aim to offer a ‘‘soft’’ conflict of law regulation to the
international commercial arbitrators which usually are
not bound by national or regional conflict of law regulations.
And this is quite important for the firms, their
lawyers and arbitrators, the arbitration tribunal being
today the natural judge of international commercial
contracts.
We will first analyse the ‘‘letter’’ of the ‘‘Principles of
Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts’’,
this utmost freedom given to the parties to choose the
‘‘law’’; and then also the ‘‘spirit’’ of the Principles,
which involves a singular attitude of mind which
defines ‘‘soft law’’ or the lex mercatoria and carries out
the work of the practitioners.

The completion of the official service of judicial documents abroad is a problem that connects to the establishment of the true adversarial and, for this reason, the fair trial.
The overcoming of models based on a presumed improvement took place a model based on the interstatual cooperation by stipulating appropriate international conventions and, in the EU area, Regulations.
The system thus created allows a safer delivery to the recipient and so the
completion of the service but sometimes it becomes impossible to resort to it.
The aim of this study is to analyse when it is possible under these circumstances to use residual rules referred to national solutions, i.e. the article 142 of the Italian Civil Procedural Code.

The gradual introduction of a globalized marked, the mass tourism, the enactment of the four EU freedoms, and, above all, the general utilisation of e-commerce, have resulted in a rapidly growing number of cross-border contracts and thus also of cross-border disputes. In the second half of the 20th century, the protection of the consumers as weaker contractual parties has developed in national substantial and procedural rules, as well as in the field of private international law. On the EU level, special choice-of-law rules were adopted first in the Rome Convention of 1980, and then, with several modifications, in the Rome I Regulation currently in force. In Slovenia, the latter has replaced the previously applicable choice-of-law rules and applies in cases connected with other EU Member States or with third States.
The Rome I Regulation determines the scope of application of the protective rules through the definition of the notions of consumer, professional and the circumstances of the conclusion of the contract. In electronic contracts the most important condition is that the professional has directed their activity to the country of the consumer’s habitual residence. The “directing” of activity is a legal standard which has been further concretized also by the case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU, which watches over the harmonized interpretation of the consumer’s protection in the Rome I and the recast Brussels I regulations.
When the conditions for the protection in choice-of-law are met, the Rome I Regulation enacts the consumer’s habitual residence as the main connecting factor. The parties are allowed choose the applicable law, but the consumer cannot thereby be deprived of the mandatory protection from the law of the state of his habitual residence. As a result, the courts must sometimes combine the rules of the chosen law and the law of the consumer’s residence, which can prove to be a difficult task. Nevertheless, the doctrine deems that such solution is the best possible compromise between the legal and economic interests of both contractual parties.


KEYWORDS:
Consumer, consumer protection, Rome I Regulation, Rome Convention, Private International Law and Procedure Act, choice-of-law, conflict of laws, contract, electronic contract, private international law, party autonomy