Droit international général

The Universities of Genoa, Valencia, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Mainz, the Turība University, the Charles University in Prague, the Institute of Private International Law in Sofia, and IPR Verlag Munich are conducting a research project, co-funded by the European Union, to collect and develop private and procedural international law best practices in cross-border insolvency and pre-insolvency proceedings. Practitioners and academics are invited to answer (anonymously) to a questionnaire elaborated to this effect. The questionnaire is available here. 

Le Università di Genova, Valencia, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Magonza, la Biznesa augstskola Turība, la Charles University di Praga, l’Istituto di Diritto internazionale privato di Sofia e la casa editrice IPR Verlag di Monaco di Baviera stanno conducendo un progetto di ricerca,co-finanziato dall’Unione europea, volto alla collezione ed allo sviluppo di best practices di diritto internazionale privato e processuale in materia di insolvenza e pre-insolvenza transfrontaliera. Pratici ed accademici sono invitati a rispondere (in modo anonimo) a un questionario predisposto a questo fine.  Il questionario è disponibile qui.

A workshop is scheduled to take place at the European Parliament on 8 November 2016 to discuss the Commission’s proposal to recast Regulation No 2201/2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgements in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility. A compilation of the speakers’ briefings is available here.

Il Parlamento europeo ospita, l’8 novembre 2016, un seminario dedicato alla proposta della Commissione concernente la rifusione del regolamento n. 2201/2003 sulla competenza giurisdizionale, il riconoscimento e l’esecuzione delle decisioni in materia matrimoniale e di responsabilità genitoriale. Il testo delle relazioni è disponibile a questo indirizzo.

On 21 November 2016, the Italian Ombudsman for Childhood and Adolescence and the University of Ferrara will host a conference devoted to Combating the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The implementation of the Lanzarote Convention in Italy: application experiences and outstanding problems.  The event is part of the initiatives that mark the European Day on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse promoted by the Council of Europe, and it is addressed to lawyers, psychologists and social workers.

The flyer is available here. For more information: Ester di Napoli at dnpstr@unife.it.

Il 21 novembre 2016 l’Autorità Garante per l’Infanzia e l’Adolescenza e l’Università di Ferrara organizzano un convegno su La lotta all’abuso e allo sfruttamento sessuale dei minori. L’attuazione della Convenzione di Lanzarote in Italia: esperienze applicative e problemi aperti. L’incontro si colloca nel contesto della Giornata europea per la protezione dei bambini contro lo sfruttamento e gli abusi sessuali promossa dal Consiglio d’Europa e si rivolge ad un pubblico di giuristi, psicologi ed operatori sociali.

La locandina dell’evento è disponibile a questo indirizzo. Per maggiori informazioni, contattare Ester di Napoli (dnpstr@unife.it).

In a judgment of 27 October 2016 regarding the case of Child and Family Agency v. J.D. (Case C‑428/15), the Court of Justice ruled as follows.

(1)   Article 15 of  Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003  concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility must be interpreted as meaning that it is applicable where a child protection application brought under public law by the competent authority of a Member State concerns the adoption of measures relating to parental responsibility, such as the application at issue in the main proceedings, where it is a necessary consequence of a court of another Member State assuming jurisdiction that an authority of that other Member State thereafter commence proceedings that are separate from those brought in the first Member State, pursuant to its own domestic law and possibly relating to different factual circumstances.

(2)  Article 15(1) of Regulation No 2201/2003 must be interpreted as meaning that:
– in order to determine that a court of another Member State with which the child has a particular connection is better placed, the court having jurisdiction in a Member State must be satisfied that the transfer of the case to that other court is such as to provide genuine and specific added value to the examination of that case, taking into account, inter alia, the rules of procedure applicable in that other Member State;
– in order to determine that such a transfer is in the best interests of the child, the court having jurisdiction in a Member State must be satisfied, in particular, that that transfer is not liable to be detrimental to the situation of the child.

(3)  Article 15(1) of Regulation No 2201/2003 must be interpreted as meaning that the court having jurisdiction in a Member State must not take into account, when applying that provision in a given case relating to parental responsibility, either the effect of a possible transfer of that case to a court of another Member State on the right of freedom of movement of persons concerned other than the child in question, or the reason why the mother of that child exercised that right, prior to that court being seised, unless those considerations are such that there may be adverse repercussions on the situation of that child.

Nella sentenza del 27 ottobre 2016,  relativa al caso Child and Family Agency c. J.D. (causa C‑428/15), la Corte di giustizia ha stabilito quanto segue.

(1)  L’articolo 15 del regolamento (CE) n. 2201/2003 del Consiglio, del 27 novembre 2003, relativo alla competenza, al riconoscimento e all’esecuzione delle decisioni in materia matrimoniale e in materia di responsabilità genitoriale, che abroga il regolamento (CE) n. 1347/2000, deve essere interpretato nel senso che si applica in presenza di un ricorso in materia di tutela dei minori presentato sulla base del diritto pubblico dalla competente autorità di uno Stato membro e avente ad oggetto l’adozione di misure relative alla responsabilità genitoriale, come quello di cui al procedimento principale, qualora la dichiarazione di competenza di un organo giurisdizionale di un altro Stato membro necessiti, a valle, dell’avvio, da parte di un’autorità di tale altro Stato membro, ai sensi del suo diritto interno e alla luce di circostanze di fatto eventualmente diverse, di un procedimento distinto da quello avviato nel primo Stato membro.

(2)  L’articolo 15, paragrafo 1, del regolamento n. 2201/2003 deve essere interpretato nel senso che:
– per poter stabilire che un’autorità giurisdizionale di un altro Stato membro con il quale il minore ha un legame particolare è più adatta, il giudice competente di uno Stato membro deve accertarsi che il trasferimento del caso a detta autorità giurisdizionale sia idoneo ad apportare un valore aggiunto reale e concreto al trattamento dello stesso, in particolare tenendo conto delle norme di procedura applicabili in detto altro Stato membro;
– per poter stabilire che un siffatto trasferimento corrisponde all’interesse superiore del minore, il giudice competente di uno Stato membro deve in particolare accertarsi che tale trasferimento non rischi di ripercuotersi negativamente sulla situazione del minore.

(3)  L’articolo 15, paragrafo 1, del regolamento n. 2201/2003 deve essere interpretato nel senso che il giudice competente di uno Stato membro non deve tenere conto, in sede di attuazione di tale disposizione in un determinato caso in materia di responsabilità genitoriale, né dell’incidenza di un possibile trasferimento di detto caso a un’autorità giurisdizionale di un altro Stato membro sul diritto di libera circolazione delle persone interessate diverse dal minore interessato, né del motivo per il quale la madre di tale minore si è avvalsa di tale diritto, prima che detto giudice fosse adito, salvo che considerazioni di questo tipo siano tali da ripercuotersi in modo negativo sulla situazione di tale minore.

Luciano Garofalo, Giuseppina Pizzolante, Spunti per una teoria post-moderna dell’analogia, Giappichelli, 2016, ISBN 9788892104167, pp. 166, EUR 16.

Il volume “Spunti per una teoria post-moderna dell’analogia. Princípi generali, analogia e diritti ‘alieni’” è una raccolta di scritti organizzati in base all’idea di fondo che la funzione interpretativa assuma una connotazione del tutto peculiare nelle situazioni che possiamo definire, atecnicamente, di contatto o osmosi tra più sistemi giuridici. In questa ottica, il volume traccia le caratteristiche del procedimento analogico in alcuni ordinamenti giuridici non statali (ordinamento internazionale, ordinamento dell’Unione europea) – e in segmenti particolari degli ordinamenti giuridici statali (sistema di conflitto di leggi) – per poter fornire indicazioni sistematicamente corrette sulle caratteristiche dello stesso procedimento in tali “condizioni” di sistema. “Spunti per una teoria post-moderna dell’analogia. Princípi generali, analogia e diritti ‘alieni’” è rivolto anzitutto agli studiosi di diritto internazionale e dell’Unione europea ma è impostato in modo tale da renderlo “leggibile” anche agli studenti universitari. In ogni caso, esso è di evidente utilità per gli operatori giuridici in genere, venendo in giuoco problematiche interpretative da gestire a cavallo tra valori giuridici provenienti da ordinamenti diversi.

By James J Fawcett FBA (Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Nottingham), Máire Ní Shúilleabháin (Assistant Professor in Law, University College Dublin) and Sangeeta Shah (Associate Professor of Law, University of Nottingham)
Human Rights and Private International Law is the first title to consider and analyse the numerous English private international law cases discussing human rights concerns arising in the commercial and family law contexts. 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.

Focusing 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.

Written by specialists in both human rights and private international law, this work examines the impact, both actual and potential, of human rights concerns on private international law, as well as the oft overlooked topic of the impact of private international law on human rights.

Contents

1: Introduction
2: Human rights, private international law, and their interaction
3: The right to a fair trial
4: The right to a fair trial and jurisdiction under the EU rules
5: The right to a fair trial and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments under the EU rules
6: The right to a fair trial and jurisdiction under national rules
7: The right to a fair trial and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments under the traditional English rules
8: The right to a fair trial and private international law: concluding remarks
9: The prohibition of discrimination and private international law
10: Freedom of expression and the right to respect for private life: international defamation and invasion of privacy
11: The right to marry, the right to respect for family life, the prohibition on discrimination and international marriage
12: Religious rights and recognition of marriage and extra-judicial divorce
13: Right to respect for family life and the rights of the child: international child abduction
14: Right to respect for private and family life and related rights: parental status
15: The right to property, foreign judgments, and cross-border property disputes
16: Overall conclusions

For further information, see here.

Building on the very successful conferences held in Aberdeen (2005), Birmingham (2007), New York (2009), Milan (2011) Madrid (2013), and Cambridge (2015), we are pleased to announce that the Journal of Private International Law will be holding its next Conference at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, 3-5 August 2017. We are now calling for abstracts for the Conference. Please submit an abstract if you would like to make a presentation at the Conference and you are willing to produce a final paper that you will submit for publication in the Journal. Abstracts should be up to 500 words in length and should clearly state the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s).

They can be on any subject matter that falls within the scope of the Journal, and can be offered by people at any stage of their career, including postgraduate students.    The  Journal of Private International Law ( J. Priv. Int. L.) was launched in spring 2005 and covers all aspects of private international law, reflecting the role of the European Union and the Hague Conference on Private International Law in the making of private international law, in addition to the traditional role of domestic legal orders. Articles from scholars anywhere in the world writing in English about developments in any jurisdiction on any aspect of private international law are welcomed, as well as shorter articles or analysis from anywhere in the world, including analysis of new treaties and conventions, and lengthy review articles dealing with significant new publications.

Presentation at the Conference will depend on whether your abstract is selected by the Editors of the Journal (Professors Jonathan Harris of King’s College, London and Paul Beaumont of the University of Aberdeen) and by the conference organisers in the Pontifical Catholic University (Professors Nadia de Araujo, Daniela Vargas and Lauro Gama).  The subsequent article should be submitted to the Journal. Publication in the Journal will be subject to the usual system of refereeing by two experts in the field.

The Conference will be a mixture of plenary (Friday) and parallel panel sessions (Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning).  Please indicate on the abstract whether you are willing to present in either or are only willing to do so in one or the other. A willingness to be flexible maximises our ability to select your paper.

The Conference will be held at the main campus of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (www.puc-rio.br). . Further information will be available soon.

Speakers will not be expected to pay a conference fee but will be expected to pay their travel and accommodation expenses to attend the Conference in Rio de Janeiro.  Information on Conference accommodation will be available soon, with a list of hotels and hostels nearby the campus, but the University does not have living arrangements  Details about accommodation and the Conference dinner on the Thursday evening will follow.

Please send your abstract to the following email address by November 15th 2016: (jprivintlrioconference2017@gmail.com

Dominique Carreau, Fabrizio Marrella, Diritto internazionale, Giuffrè, 2016, ISBN 9788814207709, pp. XXX + 758, EUR 49.

Questo libro esamina,con un taglio teorico-pratico, le principali tematiche del diritto internazionale contemporaneo consentendo agli operatori giuridici di varia estrazione professionale un approccio di immediata comprensione per la ricerca e l’applicazione delle norme della vita di relazione internazionale, norme utili anche e soprattutto per la trattazione delle controversie dinanzi alle Magistrature superiori o in un arbitrato internazionale. L’analisi giuridica viene integrata da vari esempi tratti dalla prassi vigente in materia di formazione, accertamento e applicazione del diritto internazionale e transnazionale con riferimento alle principali caratteristiche delle organizzazioni internazionali e dei non State actors. In tale ottica, vengono esaminate varie questioni circa – tra l’altro- i trattati internazionali, il trattamento degli stranieri e le loro attività economiche, i diritti umani, le immunità giurisdizionali, il divieto dell’uso della forza, i meccanismi di soluzione delle controversie internazionali. Il volume è corredato da tavole analitiche per consentire ogni approfondimento dottrinale e giurisprudenziale nonché da schede di sintesi per facilitare l’apprendimento della materia. Per queste sue peculiari caratteristiche, il libro si rivolge, sia agli studenti per una efficace preparazione dell’esame o di un concorso, sia ad ogni operatore giuridico, compresi gli avvocati d’affari, i magistrati, i dottori commercialisti ed i notai che intendano affinare la loro cultura giuridica o aggiornare la loro preparazione professionale.

Reinhard Bork e Kristin van Zwieten (eds / a cura di), Commentary on the European Insolvency Regulation, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 1032, ISBN 9780198727286, GBP 195.

This book provides the most detailed article-by-article commentary on the revised EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings (EIR), written by a group of experts drawn from several jurisdictions. The commentary is prefaced by an introductory chapter which provides an overview on scope and the key features of the EIR. This new commentary has been published in time to cover the long-awaited and much-debated revised Regulation which was finalized in 2015. The timing of publication will enable practitioners and scholars to equip themselves with a thorough understanding of the EIR ahead of full implementation in 2017. The article-by-article analysis has a multi-jurisdictional focus which reports and evaluates significant developments in the application of the Regulation across member states. This is a key new work for all those who advise on or research European insolvency law.

The Editors of the Cambridge International Law Journal (CILJ) and the Conference Convenors welcome submissions for the Cambridge International and European Law Conference 2017, which will be held in the Faculty of Law, Cambridge on 23 and 24 March 2017. 

Theme 

The theme of the Conference is ‘Transforming Institutions’. This theme is intended to stimulate the exploration of interactions between law and institutions in transformative contexts. Broadly conceived, transformation may refer to: (1) the manner in which the functions of institutions may change over time; (2) how institutions may act as agents of transformation; and (3) how institutions themselves can be subjected to transformation. 

Given the Conference’s focus on European and International law, the organisers invite submissions to consider how structures and norms under European and International Legal systems relate to, influence and are affected by ‘transforming institutions’.

Abstracts

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted no later than Friday, 25 November 2016.

The authors of selected papers will be required to submit a 2000 word extended abstract to conference@cilj.co.uk by Friday 24 February 2017.

Authors who present at the Conference will also be invited to submit their papers for publication in Volume 6(2) of the CILJ, to be published in the summer of 2017. Authors will be contacted about this after the Conference.

The Conference is aimed at both academic and professional attendees and will be CRD accredited.

Further Information

For further information please contact conference@cilj.co.uk

Halsbury’s Laws of Canada (first edition) has published a reissue (September 2016) of its volume on Conflict of Laws.  It is written by Professor Janet Walker, the author of the leading Canadian textbook in the field.  The reissue is highly detailed with over 260 pages of tables (cases, conventions, legislation), an index and a glossary.  The substantive content runs to over 600 pages including lengthy footnotes.  The reissue can be purchased as a stand-alone reference (without buying the entire Halsbury’s collection) for conflict of laws in Canada (publisher information available here).

I reported earlier on the AG’s Opinion in C‑428/15, Child and Family Agency. The Court held late October. It first of all confirms earlier case-law relating to the interpretation of the notion ‘civil matters’, with reference to the need for autonomous interpretation. ‘Civil matters’ may include adoption of child protection measures, including cases where those measures are considered, under the domestic law of a Member State, to be governed by public law (at 32).

More fundamentally, the question of forum non conveniens. Article 15(1) of Regulation No 2201/2003 provides that the courts of a Member State having jurisdiction as to the substance of a case may request the transfer of that case, or a specific part thereof, to a court of another Member State with which the child has a particular connection, if they consider that that court is better placed to hear the case, and where the transfer is in the best interests of the child. Article 15(3) lists exhaustively the factors that can be taken into account in this respect.

Not surprisingly of course the CJEU puts the interests of the child at the core of its analysis. The criterion of proximity (leading to the principal jurisdiction for the courts of the habitual residence of the child) can only be set aside if there are facts-specific considerations that to do so is in the better interest of the child.

Article 15(3) being an exhaustive list, the Court is not willing to consider any other consideration: the impact of the referral on the free movement rights of others, in particular the parents, can not be of any relevance, lest such impact in turn has an impact on the free movement of the child itself. Moreover, the concern of the Irish court that referred, namely that a transfer of children from the UK to Ireland (following the parent’s exercise of her freedom of movement), thus amending their habitual residence, may be an abusive form of forum shopping, cannot be a relevant consideration.

Geert.

Maria Hook, The Choice of Law Contract, Hart Publishing, 2016,  ISBN 9781849467643, pp. 288, GBP 60.

This book offers a contractual framework for the regulation of party autonomy in choice of law. The party autonomy rule is the cornerstone of any modern system of choice of law; embodying as it does the freedom enjoyed by parties to a cross-border legal relationship to agree on the law applicable to it. However, as this study shows, the rule has a major shortcoming because it fails to give due regard to the contractual function of the choice of law agreement. The study examines the existing law on choice of law agreements, by reference to the law of both common and civil law jurisdictions and international instruments. Moreover, it suggests a new coherent approach to party autonomy that integrates both the law of contract and choice of law. This important new study should be read with interest by private international law scholars.

I have been very kindly invited to be the speaker of the Forum Conveniens Annual Lecture at the University of Edinburgh this year. It is with great pleasure that I announce it will take place on Wednesday 23rd November 2016, under the title “Farewell, UK. Stocktaking Time for a Continental Europe’s Area of Civil Justice”. Start is foreseen at 6.00pm, at the following venue: LG.10, David Hume Tower, EH8 9JX.

Attendance is free, however registration is required. For more information  please contact:
Professor Gerry Maher (Gerard.Maher@ed.ac.uk or Dr
Veronica Ruiz Abou Nigm (V.Ruiz.Abou-Nigm@ed.ac.uk)

Forum Conveniens is a forum based at Edinburgh Law School and dedicated to International Private Law (Private International Law). Its base in Edinburgh reflects the distinctive role of Scots law in the development of the subject but at the same time the focus of the Forum is international.

It provides a means of bringing together interested parties (including academic lawyers, practitioners, the judiciary, law reformers, and policy makers) for discussion and exchange of ideas in private international law.

Edina Márton, Violations of Personality Rights through the Internet – Jurisdictional Issues under European Law, Nomos / Hart Publishing, 2016, ISBN 9781509908028, pp. 384, GBP 95.

This book considers jurisdictional issues on violations of personality rights through the Internet under the so-called ‘Brussels-Lugano Regime’ and centres on the special rule of jurisdiction in matters relating to tort, delict, or quasi-delict. It notes the governing objectives and underlying principles of this special rule; analyses its interpretation through the judgments of the ECJ, especially Bier, Shevill, and eDate and Martinez; and explores views expressed in legal theory and national judicial practice regarding its application for localising online violations of personality rights. The book aims to examine how the eDate and Martinez approaches advance administrability, predictability, and litigational justice and to assess whether they are suitable jurisdictional bases in Europe, where common legal norms, interests, and values increasingly integrate and connect persons. It concludes that they are not and recommends their possible reform.

Professor Massimo Benedettelli (University of Bari “Aldo Moro”) has just published a highly noteworthy article entitled “Five Lay Commandments for the EU Private International Law of Companies” in the 17th Volume of the Yearbook of Private International Law (2015/2016).

The author has kindly provided us with the following abstract:

‘While praising European company law as a “cornerstone of the internal market”, the EU institutions have devoted limited attention to issues of competent jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition of judgments which necessarily arise when companies carry out their business on a cross-border basis. This is a paradox, especially if one considers that in this area the EU often follows a policy of “minimal harmonization” of the laws of the Member States and that this policy leads to the co-existence of a variety of different rules and institutions directly or indirectly impinging on the regulation of companies, thus to possible conflicts of jurisdictions and/or laws. The European Court of Justice’s “Centros doctrine” fills this gap only partially: this is due not only to the inherent limits of its case-law origin, but also to various hidden assumptions and corollaries on which it appears to be grounded and which still need to be unearthed. Hence, time has come for a better coordination of the legal systems of the Member States in the field of company law, possibly through the enactment of an ad hoc instrument. To be properly carried out, however, such coordination requires a preliminary clarification of what the EU private international law of companies really is and how it should be handled at the current stage of the European integration. This article tries to contribute to such clarification by proposing five main guidelines, in the form of “commandments” for the European legislator, courts and practitioners. It is submitted that, first, one should understand the different scope of the three legal disciplines (EU law, private international law and company law) which interact in this field so as to assess when and to what extent the lack of coordination of the Member States’ domestic laws may affect the achievement of the objectives pursued by the EU. As a second analytical step, the impact that the EU constitutional principles of subsidiarity and proportionality may have on the scope of the relevant regulatory powers of the EU and of the Member States should be determined. Third, the issue of “characterization” should be addressed so that the boundaries of company law vis-à-vis neighbouring disciplines (capital markets law, insolvency law, contract law, tort law) are fixed throughout the entire EU legal space in a uniform and consistent way. Fourth, the Member States’ legal systems should be coordinated on the basis of the “jurisdictional approach” method (which de facto inspires the ECJ in Centros and its progenies) by granting a role of prominence to the Member State under the laws of which a company has been incorporated. Fifth, any residual conflict which may still arise among different Member States in the regulation of a given company should be resolved, in principle, by respecting the will of the parties to the corporate contract and the rights “to incorporate” and “to re-incorporate” which they enjoy under EU law. In the author’s opinion, an EU private international law of companies developed on the basis of these guidelines not only would achieve a fair balance between the needs of the integration and the Member States’ sovereignty, but would also create a framework for a European “market of company law” where a “virtuous” forum and law shopping could be performed in a predictable and regulated way.’

In Endean v British Columbia, 2016 SCC 42 (available here) the Supreme Court of Canada has held that “In pan-national class action proceedings over which the superior court has subject-matter and personal jurisdiction, a judge of that court has the discretion to hold a hearing outside his or her territory in conjunction with other judges managing related class actions, provided that the judge will not have to resort to the court’s coercive powers in order to convene or conduct the hearing and the hearing is not contrary to the law of the place in which it will be held” (quotation from the court’s summary/headnote).

The qualifications on the holding are important, since some of the earlier lower court decisions had been more expansive in asserting the inherent power of the superior court to sit outside the province (for example beyond the class proceedings context).  I am concerned about any extraterritorial hearings that are not expressly authorized by specific statutory provisions, but I do appreciate the utility (from an efficiency perspective) of the court’s conclusion in the particular context of this dispute.  It remains to be seen if attempts will be made to broaden this holding to other contexts.

The court has also held that “A video link between the out-of-province courtroom where the hearing takes place and a courtroom in the judge’s home province is not a condition for a judge to be able to sit outside his or her home province. Neither the [class proceeding statutes] nor the inherent jurisdiction of the court imposes such a requirement. The open court principle is not violated when a superior court judge exercises his or her discretion to sit outside his or her home province without a video link to the home jurisdiction” (quotation from the court’s summary/headnote).

This aspect of the decision concerns me, since my view is that the open court principle requires that members of the Ontario public and the media can see the proceedings of an Ontario court in an Ontario courtroom.  It is a hollow claim that they can fly to another province to watch them there.  The separate concurring decision appreciates this aspect of the case more than the majority decision, though it too stops short of requiring a video link.  In its view, “While the court should not presumptively order that a video link back to the home provinces be set up where the court sits extraprovincially, members of the public, the media, or counsel can request that a video link or other means be used to enhance the accessibility of the hearing. If such a request is made, or the judge considers it appropriate, a video link or other means to enhance accessibility should be ordered, subject to any countervailing considerations” (quotation from the court’s summary/headnote).

Photini Pazartzis, Maria Gavouneli (eds / a cura di), Reconceptualising the Rule of Law in Global Governance, Resources, Investment and Trade, Hart Publishing, 2016, ISBN  9781849468800, pp. 520, GBP 65.

The relevance and importance of the rule of law to the international legal order cannot be doubted and was recently reaffirmed by the Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law at the National and International Level’s solemn commitment to it on behalf of states and international organizations. In this edited collection, leading scholars and practitioners from the fields of global governance, resources, investment and trade examine how the commitment to the rule of law manifests itself in the respective fields. The book looks at cutting-edge issues within each field and examines the questions arising from the interplay between them. With a clear three-part structure, it explores each area in detail and addresses contemporary challenges while trying to assure a commitment to the rule of law. The contributions also consider how the rule of law has been or should be reconceptualised. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, the book will appeal to international lawyers from across the spectrum, including practitioners in the field of international investment and trade law.

Registrations are now open for the 2017 summer courses at the Hague Academy of International Law. The private international law session will run from 31 July to 18 August 2017. The general course will be given by Horatia Muir-Watt. Special courses will be delivered by Burkhard Hess, Michael Karayanni, Alan Scott Rau, Andrés Rodrìguez-Benot, Francesco Salerno, Carmen Tiburcio and Patrick Wautelet. Geneviève Saumier and Laura Carballo Piñeiro will serve a directors of studies. The complete programme is available here.

Sono aperte le iscrizioni per i tradizionali corsi estivi di dell’Accademia di Diritto Internazionale dell’Aja. La sessione di diritto internazionale privato si svolgerà fra il 31 luglio e il 18 agosto 2017. Il corso generale sarà impartito da Horatia Muir-Watt, quelli speciali da Burkhard Hess, Michael Karayanni, Alan Scott Rau, Andrés Rodrìguez-Benot, Francesco Salerno, Carmen Tiburcio e Patrick Wautelet. Geneviève Saumier e Laura Carballo Piñeiro saranno i direttori degli studi. Il programma completo è disponibile qui.

The European Association for Data Science (EuADS) will hold the first European Data Science Conference in Luxembourg on 7-8 November 2016. This interdisciplinary event is the inaugural conference of EuADS and aims to provide a setting for fostering communication among all stakeholders of Data Science in Europe. You may download the flyer of the conference here. Conference topics include, among others, the question of trust, transparency and provenance of data including where data come from and by which mechanisms trust in data might be achieved, as well as legal aspects of data science such as data protection, data privacy and data access. The conference will feature a symposium on “Legal dimensions of Data Science” with contributions by Burkhard Hess (MPI Luxembourg), Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalón, Gerald Spindler (University of Göttingen), Mark D. Cole (University of Luxembourg) and Jan von Hein (University of Freiburg). The full programme is available here.