Introduction

Private International Law or International Private Law governs the choice of law to apply when there are conflicts in the domestic law of different countries related to private transactions. This means that there is a dispute or transaction that involves one of the following:

• what jurisdiction applies - choice of court, forum selection, renvoi (transfer of proceedings)
• choice of applicable law
• recognition or enforcement of a foreign judgment

In the United States, Canada, and Great Britain it is also known as conflict of laws.

National laws are the primary sources of Private International Law. Private International Law is also embodied in treaties and conventions, model laws, legal guides, and other instruments that regulate transactions. Private International Law deals with a variety of topics, such as (international) contracts, torts (lex loci delicti), family matters, recognition of judgments, child adoption and abduction, real property (lex rei sitae), intellectual property.

This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research in the field of Private International Law in General. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library's systematic classification → Private international law and subject heading (keyword) Private International Law are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.

Bibliography

New titles

Librarian's choice

• Symeonides, S., Codifying Choice of Law around the World: an International Comparative Analysis, New York, Oxford University Press, 2017.

  

  This book chronicles, documents, and celebrates an extraordinary development in the history of Private International Law (PIL) or Conflict of Laws---a massive codification movement around the globe in the last 50 years (1962–2012). During this period, we have witnessed the adoption of more PIL codifications, Regulations, international conventions, protocols, and similar instruments (nearly 200) than in all previous years since the inception of PIL. The book provides a horizontal comparison and discussion of these codifications and conventions. After comparing the way they resolve tort and contract conflicts, the discussion compares the answers of these codifications to some of the fundamental philosophical and methodological dilemmas of PIL. In the process, the book re-examines certain widely held assumptions about choice of law and the art and science of codification in general.

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• Hay, P., Borchers, P.J. and Freer, R.D., Conflict of Laws: Private International Law Cases and Materials, St. Paul, MN, Foundation Press, 2017.

  

  The authors of the fifteenth edition are proud of the book’s heritage, which dates to 1936. At the same time, they are mindful of the needs of students and professors addressing the Conflict of Laws eight decades later. We have added the subtitle “Private International Law” to acknowledge the more common title of the subject outside the U.S., as well as to alert students that they will face a blend of domestic and international issues once they become lawyers. As an intellectual matter, the conflicts course presents rich and nuanced doctrine. As a professional matter, every litigator will face issues raised in this course. As a practical matter, an increasing number of students are drawn to the course because it is tested on the bar exam in every state that has adopted the universal bar exam or the multistate essay exam. The authors recognize the need, therefore, to provide appropriate review of civil procedure to allow the student to transition to the study of conflicts.

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• Encyclopedia of Private International Law, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, 4 vols., 2017.

  

  The role and character of Private International Law has changed tremendously over the past decades. With the steady increase of global and regional inter-connectedness the practical significance of the discipline has grown. Equally, so has the number of legislative activities on the national, international and, most importantly, the European level. With a world-class editor team, 500 content items and authorship from almost 200 of the world’s foremost scholars, the Encyclopedia of Private International Law is the definitive reference work in the field. 57 different countries are represented by authors who shed light on the current state of Private International Law around the globe, providing unique insights into the discipline and how it is affected by globalization and increased regional integration. The Encyclopedia consists of three inter-linked pillars, enhanced by sophisticated search and cross-linking functionality. The first pillar consists of A-Z coverage of the scope and substance of Private International Law in the form of 247 entries. The second pillar comprises detailed overviews of the Private International Law regimes of 80 countries. The third pillar presents valuable, and often unique, English language translations of the national codifications and Private International Law provisions of those countries. This invaluable combination represents a powerful research tool and an indispensable reference resource.

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• Cuniberti, G., Conflict of Laws: a Comparative Approach: Text and Cases, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017.

  

  The Conflict of Laws, also known as private international law, is a field of the greatest importance in an increasingly globalized world. The analysis of any legal issue, in a case involving more than one country, must start with an assessment of which court could potentially hear the case and which law it would apply.
  Contrary to other manuals or casebooks, which focus on the law of one jurisdiction, this casebook offers a comparative treatment of the field. On each issue, materials from several jurisdictions are discussed and compared. The approach centers on comprehending the common principles of the field, but also highlights the fundamental differences.
  This casebook systematically presents and compares the laws of four jurisdictions: the United States, the European Union, France and England (where left untouched by EU harmonization). It offers additional insight into rules applicable in China and Japan and also discusses remarkable solutions adopted in a wide range of jurisdictions such as Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and Tunisia. All materials from non-English speaking jurisdictions have been translated into English.

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• Fawcett, J.J., Shúilleabháin. M.N., Shah, S., Human Rights and Private International Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

  

  A comprehensive analysis of the relationship between human rights and private international law. Contains a focussed discussion of individual rights through human rights jurisprudence and the imapct of this on aspects of private international law. The book treats  numerous English private international law cases discussing human rights concerns arising in the commercial law context, alongside high profile cases dealing with torture and same sex marriage.The right to a fair trial is central to the intersection between human rights and private international law, and is considered in depth along with the right to freedom of expression; the right to respect for private and family life; the right to marry; the right to property; and the prohibition of discrimination on the ground of religion, sex, or nationality. Focussing on, though not confined to, the human rights set out in the ECHR, the work also examines the rights laid down under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and other international human rights instruments.

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Database

Blogs

• The Ladies of The Hague Academy – Summer 2018

  The Peace Palace will welcome around 700 students from all over the world during this year’s summer session of The Hague Academy of International Law. For many students, it will be their first time in The Hague and finding your way around the city can be quite a challenge. Fortunately, there will be six lovely ladies to give a helping hand when you need one. Find out who they are and what they have to say.

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• The Hague Academy Summer Courses 2018

  We welcome all students of the The Hague Academy of International Law’s summer courses, first period 9 July – 27 July (Public International Law) and second period 30 July -17 August (Private International Law). The coming six weeks, the library will serve as the Academy’s ‘home library’, providing the students with access to all books, articles, essays and documentation on international law available in either paper or electronic format.

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• Polishing the Golden Rule of International Copyright Protection

  This week’s fascinating guest blog concerns the national treatment principle that deals with the issue of non-discrimination in international intellectual property law. The blog provides a brief overview of the development of this eminent principle in international conventions protecting copyright. Dr. Danny Friedmann combines intellectual rigor with clever anecdotes in this blog. Find out why Charles Dickens complained about the unfairness of the massive piracy of his books in the United States and how a former copyright pirate like Belgium could transform itself to a copyright advocate.

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• Perspectives on Mass Violence: Peace and Conflict Studies and Genocide Studies Compared

  This week’s compelling guest blog compares the fields of Conflict Studies with Genocide Studies, its intriguing differences and similarities and the general lack of cross-pollination between them, even though they both deal with questions of collective violence and individual participation in violence. The author, Kjell Anderson, is a jurist and social scientist and works in both fields of Conflict Studies and Genocide studies.

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• The Hague Abduction Convention: Nice in Theory, Difficult in Implementation

  The Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction seeks to protect children from the harmful effects of abduction and retention across international boundaries by providing a procedure to bring about their prompt return. To implement these objectives, the Convention creates a system of close co-operation among the judicial and administrative authorities of the Contracting States and requests Contracting States to use the most expeditious procedures available under their own laws for Convention proceedings. A recent decision of the Japanese Supreme Court shows the conflict between the desire to protect factual situations altered by the wrongful removal or retention of a child, and that of guaranteeing respect for the legal relationships which may underlie such situations.

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• Interview Professor Yves Daudet

  Professor Daudet officially retired as Secretary-General of The Hague Academy of International Law. A special farewell ceremony and reception were held in his honor during which the new Secretary- General, Professor Jean- Marc Thouvenin was formally introduced. Mr Daudet graciously agreed to be interviewed. Find out more how he looks back on his time at the Academy, his many highlights and accomplishments and how he will continue to stay involved in the future of the Academy.

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• The Harmonization of European Family Law: Work in Progress

  With the aim of offering citizens in the European Union legal certainty in cross border family law situations the EU has increasingly come to define key aspects of jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition and enforcement of judgments on divorce, maintenance, and disputes over children, including international child abduction, and provided new frameworks for cross-national cooperation. This blog gives an overview of the main EU regulations in the field of international family law.

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• Towards a Toolbox for Nationality Legislation

  From 13 to 14 October Prof. Dr. Gerard–René de Groot will host his farewell seminar on the ”Future of nationality law” at Maastricht University. In this seminar specialists in the field of nationality law will discuss how academia and civil society can best collaborate in the fight to eradicate statelessness. With whole populations adrift, nationality and citizenship today are critically important to gain admittance in a state. Nationality is in fact commonly regarded as an inalienable right of every human being. Thus, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that “everyone has the right to a nationality” and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality.”

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• The Hague Academy of International Law: Celebrating 90 Years of Academic Excellence

  On July 24, 1923, ten years after the opening of the Peace Palace, the Hague Academy of International Law was solemnly inaugurated in the Peace Palace ‘to teach subjects which are most important from the point of view of theory, practice, legislation and international jurisprudence, in particular from deliberations of conferences and arbitral awards’ (Art. 3 of its statute adopted in 1914).

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• Shell and Ogoni People : (s)oil pollution in the Niger Delta

  On January 30, 2013, the court (Rechtbank) in the Hague, The Netherlands, ruled that Royal Dutch Shell can be held partially responsible for pollution in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region and ordered it to pay damages to one farmer. The Dutch court dismissed four out of five allegations of the Ogoni people against the oil company. Although Shell blames the oil pollution to sabotage, activists say the case could set a precedent for damage claims related to the foreign activities of multinational companies.

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• Immunities in Public and Private International Law - 9th Session of the Seminar for Advanced Studies, 13-19 January 2013

  Each year the Hague Academy of International law, one of the most renowned academic institutions in Europe, holds a seminar devoted to various aspects of public and private international law. The theme of this year’s seminar will be: ”Les immunités en droit international public et privé” (Immunities in public and private international law). This Programme of Advanced Studies will take place from 13 to 19 January 2013 at the Academy building in The Hague.

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• Inspiration and innovation in international law and politics, 100 years Nobel peace prize Tobias Asser

  The conference in honor of the late Tobias Asser, a hundred years after receiving the Nobel peace prize, featured a day long program with various speakers, presentations and panel discussions. The following is a selection of the opinions delivered by some of the most prominent speakers on the subjects of public international law and private international law. For a more detailed account of the life and legacy of Tobias Asser, please see ‘The learned guide of our nation …’.

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• The Special Commission on the implementation of the 2007 Child Support Convention and of the Protocol on Applicable Law

  From 10 to 17 November a Special Commission of the Conference on Private International Law (hereafter HCCH) on the implementation of the 2007 Child Support Convention and of the Protocol on Applicable Law will meet at the Peace Palace in The Hague. The Special Commission of the HCCH will discuss the implementation of the 2007 Child Support Convention and of the Protocol on Applicable Law. The new Convention aims to resolve the problems of unpaid or uncollectible child support and the problems of costly, complicated, slow and under-utilized international procedures. It will provide for a simplified procedure to recover child support internationally.

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• Cultural Diversity

  On Monday the 17th of August 2009 the Centre for Studies and Research in International Law and International Relations of the Hague Academy of International Law started. The Centre takes place annually at the Academy and Library building of the Peace Palace. The purpose of the Centre is to bring together advanced young scholars of […]

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• Shell Settles Nigerian Claims of Human Rights Violations

  On Monday, 8 June Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil producer, reached a 15.5 million dollar settlement in a lawsuit brought against it by the families of the nine Nigerian activists who were killed in 1995. The lawsuit, which was brought to a New York court under the US Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), accused Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary of complicity in the hanging and the killings or persecution of the environmental activists.

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Links

See also

More Research guides on Private International Law

• Intellectual Property
• International Commercial Law
• International Contracts
• International Family Law

PPL keywords

• Conflict of laws
• Private international law

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