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Lydia Lundstedt (University of Stockholm) has posted Gtflix TV V Dr: ‘Same Ole Same Ole’ or Has the CJEU Broken New Ground? on SSRN.

In Gtflix Tv v DR, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down an important decision confirming the mosaic approach and the accessibility approach to the application of the damage head of jurisdiction to infringements of personality rights on the internet pursuant to Article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation. Pursuant to the mosaic approach, an injured party can bring proceedings in every Member State where the damage occurs but only with respect to the damage taking place in that Member State’s territory. Pursuant to the accessibility approach, the sole criterium for the occurrence of damage in a Member State is that the content that is placed online ‘is or has been accessible’ in that Member State. Both these approaches have been criticised by commentators and resisted by the Member States courts. Nevertheless, the CJEU arguably forges new ground as the decision seems to expand the mosaic and accessibility approaches into the realm of unfair competition law. Lastly, questions remain concerning whether the courts of the Member State where the damage occurred have jurisdiction to order other territorially limited remedies such as geo-blocking measures, in addition to compensation for damage.

For previous reports on this case, see here, here and here.

Dans un avis contentieux du 9 juin, le Conseil d’État précise la procédure applicable à la contestation, d’une part, d’une décision d’interdiction de retour sur le territoire français et, d’autre part, de la décision prolongeant cette interdiction.

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This is a guest post by Izaak Weaver-Herrera, JD student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Third-party discovery in the United States pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 has often represented a pragmatic, if contentious, tool for international counsel. However, in a decision this week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that § 1782 discovery may be ordered only if the assembled “foreign or international tribunal” is a body which has been conferred governmental or intergovernmental authority. There has already been a wealth of reaction to this decision, including on this site. This post will offer a few additional perspectives.

As a bit of background, ZF Automotive arrived on the Court’s docket as a consolidation of two cases: ZF Automotive US, Inc., et al. v. Luxshare, Ltd. and Alixpartners, LLP, et al., v. the Fund for Protection of Investor’s Rights in Foreign States. Both cases questioned an open aspect of § 1782’s use: whether the phrase “foreign or international tribunal” included private commercial arbitrations between parties of different States and whether it included arbitral panels assembled pursuant to bilateral investment treaties. The Court ruled that since neither panel was conferred governmental authority, § 1782 discovery would be inappropriate in both instances.

Justice Barrett, writing for a unanimous Court, adopted a textual approach to the question. In other words, this was less of a decision on international policy, and more a reflection of what Congress said and meant. The Court paid particular attention to the use of “foreign” and “international” as modifiers to the word “tribunal.” The latter was more critical than the former. The term “[t]ribunal” has peculiar governmental or sovereign connotations, the Court said, “so ‘foreign tribunal’ more naturally refers to a body belonging to a foreign nation than to a tribunal that is simply located in a foreign nation.” Similarly, the Court found that “international tribunal” under the statute more naturally referred to tribunals between nations, rather than arbitral panels composed of or adjudicating issues between nationals of different States.

The Court also reasoned that this understanding of the statute more uniformly aligned with principles underlying both § 1782’s origin and the Federal Arbitration Act. The express purpose of § 1782 was to foster international comity. An overly broad application of § 1782, the Court’s view, would permit the use of district court resources in furtherance of “purely private bodies adjudicating purely private disputes abroad,” positioning the U.S. court system as a persistent presence in potentially limitless international disputes. The Court’s opinion also recognized the tension such a reading would create between the discovery permitted under the FAA. While the FAA restricts discovery to the discretion of arbitration panels, § 1782 permits both the tribunal itself and any “interested person” to submit requests for discovery. Thus, the Court reasoned, a narrower reading of § 1782 also serves to harmonize the scope of arbitration in the United States.

With these observations, the private arbitral tribunal in ZF Automotive was not a “foreign or international tribunal” under § 1782. This was deemed “straightforward.” The Court found the arbitration panel in the Alixpartners dispute more complicated, but ultimately reached the same conclusion. The opinion noted the BIT “simply references the set of rules that govern the panel’s formation and procedure if an investor chooses that forum,” and therefore did not confer permanent sovereign authority on the ad hoc tribunal. Rather, Lithuania simply consented to an arbitration much in the same way two private entities might. Thus, although the Alixpartners tribunal could render a judgment against Lithuania based on its consent in a treaty, it had not been conferred permanent sovereign authority and could not be considered a “foreign or international tribunal.”

The Court did not “foreclose[] the possibility that sovereigns might imbue an ad hoc arbitration panel with official authority.” So although Mixed Claims Commissions of years’ past didn’t quit analogize to modern BIT tribunals, the Court acknowledged that the former may indeed fall on the permissible side of the Court’s new bright line. As international tribunals keep specializing and proliferating (think of the proposed Multilateral Investment Court, or bodies entrusted to handle international criminal law), future questions as to whether a body is “imbued with governmental authority” will for sure arise—but, of course, private commercial arbitration is clearly outside the bounds of section 1782.

The JUDGTUST Project (Regulation BIa: a standard for free circulation of judgments and mutual trust in the EU) conducted by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in cooperation with Universität Hamburg, University of Antwerp and Internationaal Juridisch Instituut has come to its completion. The findings of the this research are available online here.

The project was animated by the aim to identify best practices and provide guidelines in the interpretation and application of the Brussels I-bis Regulation (also known as Brussels Ia). For this the analysis carried across the EU Member states sought to evaluate to what extent the changes introduced (compared to the Brussels I Regulation) achieved their objective, what are the remaining shortcomings, and how can these be overcome by considering future useful changes. Together with this, the research has analysed how legislative projects at global level – e.g. the Hague Judgment Convention – and political developments – e.g. Brexit – influence the way the Brussels I-bis is applied.

In analysing the interaction between the Brussels I bis Regulation and the other EU private international law instruments, the project combines a primarily comparative legal approach with the use of empirical research methods. The comparative legal research relies on the analysis of legislation, case law of national courts in EU Member States and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and scholarly writings. This endeavour identifies the difficulties in the application of the Brussels I-bis provisions and best practices in applying the provisions of the Regulation. This is done without neglecting the outcomes of the previous regulation – the Brussels I – and other closely related private international law sources. The empirical research relies on various methods, both qualitative and quantitative. On the basis of a dedicated Questionnaire, the national reporters from EU Member States provided information on relevant domestic case law and legal literature.

With its findings the JUDGTRUST project seeks to enhance the general understanding of the autonomous nature of the EU legal sources. Further it looks to contribute to the uniform interpretation and application of the Regulation and consequently promotes mutual trust and efficiency of cross-border resolution of civil and commercial disputes. Furthermore, the analysis provides suggestions on how to reach a greater degree of consistency of the EU private international law legislation.

The outputs of the Project include various materials available online such as the National Reports, a Consolidated Report, and materials of the Final Conference.

Together with these open access materials a Handbook on the Interpretation and Application of the Brussels I bis is expected in the coming period.

In addition to the comparative and analytical research, the project also contributed to the development of a Moot Court Competition (PAX Moot) for law students. With this the project seeks to contribute to the education of a new generation of practitioners dealing with EU private international law.

Junqueras i Vies / Parlement
Droit institutionnel
Selon l’avocat général Szpunar, le pourvoi de M. Junqueras i Vies contre l’ordonnance rendue par le Tribunal de l’Union européenne le 15 décembre 2020 doit être rejeté

Projet de traité sur la Charte de l’énergie modernisé : la demande d’avis de la Belgique est irrecevable, en raison de son caractère prématuré

Written by Mayela Celis, UNED

Yesterday (15 June 2022) the US Supreme Court rendered its Opinion in the case of Golan v. Saada regarding the HCCH Child Abduction Convention. The decision was written by Justice Sotomayor, click here. For our previous analysis of the case, click here.

This case dealt with the following question: whether upon finding that return to the country of habitual residence places a child at grave risk, a district court is required to consider ameliorative measures that would facilitate the return of the child notwithstanding the grave risk finding. (our emphasis)

In a nutshell, the US Supreme Court answered this question in the negative. The syllabus of the judgment says: “A court is not categorically required to examine all possible ameliorative measures [also known as undertakings] before denying a Hague Convention petition for return of a child to a foreign country once the court has found that return would expose the child to a grave risk of harm.” The Court has also wisely concluded that “Nothing in the Convention’s text either forbids or requires consideration of ameliorative measures in exercising this discretion” (however, this is different in the European Union context where a EU regulation complements the Child Abduction Convention).

While admittedly not everyone will be satisfied with this Opinion, it is a good and well-thought through decision that will make a great impact on how child abduction cases are decided in the USA; and more broadly, on the way we perceive what the ultimate goal of the treaty is and how to strike a right balance between the different interests at stake and the need to act expeditiously.

In particular, the Court stresses that the Convention “does not pursue return exclusively or at all costs”. And while the Court does not make a human rights analysis, it could be argued that this Opinion is in perfect harmony with the current approaches taken in human rights law.

In my view, this is a good decision and is in line with our detailed analysis of the case in our previous post. In contrast to other decisions (see recent post from Matthias Lehmann), for Child Abduction – and human rights law in general – this is definitely good news from Capitol Hill.

Below I include a few excerpts of the decision (our emphasis, we omit footnotes):

“In addition, the court’s consideration of ameliorative measures must be guided by the legal principles and other requirements set forth in the Convention and ICARA. The Second Circuit’s rule, by instructing district courts to order return “if at all possible,” improperly elevated return above the Convention’s other objectives. Blondin I, 189 F. 3d, at 248. The Convention does not pursue return exclusively or at all costs. Rather, the Convention “is designed to protect the interests of children and their parents,” Lozano, 572 U. S., at 19 (ALITO , J., concurring), and children’s interests may point against return in some circumstances. Courts must remain conscious of this purpose, as well as the Convention’s other objectives and requirements, which constrain courts’ discretion to consider ameliorative measures
in at least three ways.

“First, any consideration of ameliorative measures must prioritize the child’s physical and psychological safety. The Convention explicitly recognizes that the child’s interest in avoiding physical or psychological harm, in addition to other interests, “may overcome the return remedy.” Id., at 16 (majority opinion) (cataloging interests). A court may therefore decline to consider imposing ameliorative measures where it is clear that they would not work because the risk is so grave. Sexual abuse of a child is one example of an intolerable situation. See 51 Fed. Reg. 10510. Other physical or psychological abuse, serious neglect, and domestic violence in the home may also constitute an obvious grave risk to the child’s safety that could not readily be ameliorated. A court may also decline to consider imposing ameliorative measures where it reasonably expects that they will not be followed. See, e.g., Walsh v. Walsh, 221 F. 3d 204, 221 (CA1 2000) (providing example of parent with history of violating court orders).

“Second, consideration of ameliorative measures should abide by the Convention’s requirement that courts addressing return petitions do not usurp the role of the court that will adjudicate the underlying custody dispute. The Convention and ICARA prohibit courts from resolving any underlying custody dispute in adjudicating a return petition. See Art. 16, Treaty Doc., at 10; 22 U. S. C. §9001(b)(4). Accordingly, a court ordering ameliorative measures in making a return determination should limit those measures in time and scope to conditions that would permit safe return, without purporting to decide subsequent custody matters or weighing in on permanent arrangements.

“Third, any consideration of ameliorative measures must accord with the Convention’s requirement that courts “act expeditiously in proceedings for the return of children.” Art. 11, Treaty Doc., at 9. Timely resolution of return petitions is important in part because return is a “provisional” remedy to enable final custody determinations to proceed. Monasky, 589 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 3) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Convention also prioritizes expeditious determinations as being in the best interests of the child because “[e]xpedition will help minimize the extent to which uncertainty adds to the challenges confronting both parents and child.” Chafin v. Chafin, 568 U. S. 165, 180 (2013). A requirement to “examine the full range of options that might make possible the safe return of a child,” Blondin II, 238 F. 3d, at 163, n. 11, is in tension with this focus on expeditious resolution. In this case, for example, it took the District Court nine months to comply with the Second Circuit’s directive on remand. Remember, the Convention requires courts to resolve return petitions “us[ing] the most expeditious procedures available,” Art. 2, Treaty Doc., at 7, and to provide parties that request it with an explanation if proceedings extend longer than six weeks, Art. 11, id., at 9. Courts should structure return proceedings with these instructions in mind. Consideration of ameliorative measures should not cause undue delay in resolution of return petitions.

“To summarize, although nothing in the Convention prohibits a district court from considering ameliorative measures, and such consideration often may be appropriate, a district court reasonably may decline to consider ameliorative measures that have not been raised by the parties, are unworkable, draw the court into determinations properly resolved in custodial proceedings, or risk overly prolonging return proceedings. The court may also find the grave risk so unequivocal, or the potential harm so severe, that ameliorative measures would be inappropriate. Ultimately, a district court must exercise its discretion to consider ameliorative measures in a manner consistent with its general obligation to address the parties’ substantive arguments and its specific obligations under the Convention. A district court’s compliance with these requirements is subject to review under an ordinary abuse-of-discretion standard.”

Commission / Autriche (Indexation des prestations familiales)
Sécurité sociale des travailleurs migrants
L’adaptation des allocations familiales et de divers avantages fiscaux, accordés par l’Autriche en faveur des travailleurs, en fonction de l’état de résidence de leurs enfants est contraire au droit de l’Union

C-698/19 P & Sony Optiarc et Sony Optiarc America/Commission, C-699/19 P & Quanta Storage/Commission et C-700/19 P & Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology et Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Korea/Commission
Concurrence
Entente sur le marché des lecteurs de disques optiques : la Cour annule partiellement la décision de la Commission mais maintient les montants des amendes infligées

Michael Karayanni (Bruce W. Wayne Professor of International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) published the special course he gave at the Hague Academy on The Private International Law of Class Actions: A Functional Approach in Volume 422 of Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law

According to Professor Karayanni, a transnational class action raises fundamental questions of Private International law with regard to the class action court’s jurisdiction over the defendant and the class members, on how to choose the applicable law, and ultimately on how to deal with the judgment if and when it comes up for enforcement or recognition before a foreign court. At times these questions and the complications they give rise to, become part and parcel of the class action court’s consideration whether to certify the class action as such.

In his lectures, Professor Karayanni identifies the major private international problems that are endemic to transnational class actions and discusses how these are handled, principally by courts in the US, Canada, and Israel. In this he offers an analytical legal framework that can better assist us in dealing with the private international law questions pertaining to transnational class action. He does so by identifying three different categories of class actions, with each of them demanding a separate and more surgical treatment: Insubstantial individual claims and negative incentive for individual litigation; Significant individual claims and positive incentive for individual litigation; Significant individual claims and negative incentive for individual litigation – the class action of the disempowered.

The volume also includes the course of Said Mahmoudi (Professor of International Law at Stockholm University) on Self-Defence and “Unwilling or Unable” States.

Further details on the volume are available here.

La Cour de cassation met en œuvre l’interprétation de l’article 292 de la directive Solvabilité II retenue par un arrêt de la Cour de justice du 13 janvier 2022.

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Le mineur étranger entré irrégulièrement en France doit présenter une demande de titre de séjour dans les deux mois qui suivent son dix-huitième anniversaire. Le Conseil d’État estime qu’est sans incidence sur cette obligation le fait que le mineur ait été pris en charge par l’aide sociale à l’enfance (ASE) et pouvait se voir délivrer une carte de séjour temporaire.

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Qualcomm / Commission
Concurrence
Abus de position dominante sur le marché des chipsets LTE : le Tribunal annule la décision de la Commission infligeant à Qualcomm une amende d’environ un milliard d’euros

The conference Sense and Sensibility in Cross-Border Cases: Couples’ Property will gather line of academic and expert speakers from several countries who will present the results of the research carried out so far under the EU Justice project EU-FamPro dedicated to the EU Twin Regulations (2016/1103 and 2016/1104) in addition to some national topics. Please check the conference programme for details.

The conference will take place on 30 June 2022 in a beautiful venue of the Jean Monnet Inter-University Centre in Opatija (Croatia) and online. The conference is open access without charging any fees, but registration for both onsite and online attendance is required here by 20 June 2022.

The conference is organised by the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law and the Croatian Comparative Law Association in cooperation with the University of Camerino, the University of Ljubljana, the University of Almeria and the Lithuanian Law Institute.

Written by Catherine Shen, ABLI

Following a successful collaboration last year, the Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI) and the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) are joining hands again for a second joint webinar this year on Wednesday 27 July between 3 to 6pm (Singapore time).

Titled Cross-border Commercial Dispute Resolution – HCCH 2005 Choice of Court and 2019 Judgments Conventions, the webinar will comprise two sessions, each devoted to one of the conventions. Attendees have the option of attending one or both sessions.

Invited speakers Sara Chisholm-Batten (Partner, Michelmores LLP), the Honourable Justice David Goddard (Court of Appeal, New Zealand), Justice Anselmo Reyes, (International Judge, Singapore International Commercial Court), Nish Shetty (Partner, Clifford Chance LLP) and Dr Ning Zhao Senior Legal Officer, HCCH) are expected to talk about the practical operations of the Choice of Court Agreements and Judgments Conventions, how they complement each other and whether the recent debate on the Choice of Court Agreements Convention is justified.

For more information or to register, click here. Early bird discount is available till 26 June. Queries about the webinar can be directed to Catherine at info@abli.asia.

The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) is holding a webinar on 16 June 2022 at 3:00 pm (Mexico City time – CDT), 10:00 pm (CEST time). The topic of the webinar is The need for a PIL law for Ecuador and will be presented by Professor Jaime Vintimilla Saldaña (in Spanish).

The details of the webinar are:

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89189611809?pwd=RXhDeE5Gdlkwd2prWnREeVhVelBudz09

Meeting ID: 891 8961 1809

Password: BMAAMEDIP

Participation is free of charge.

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

The author of this post is Etienne Farnoux, who is a professor of law at the University of Strasbourg. He has recently published his doctoral thesis on the policy considerations that underlie the rules of international jurisdiction, with a special focus on torts (Les considérations substantielles dans le règlement de la compétence internationale des juridictions – Réflexion autour de la matière délictuelle).

The thesis proposes to question the classical locational or proximity-based analysis of international adjudicatory jurisdiction in tort disputes. It is a commonplace idea – one that can be found both in European and national (French) private international law – that the rules of international jurisdiction are based on the geographical localization of the dispute, also known as the principle of proximity. If one thinks of international adjudicatory jurisdiction as being a question of territorial limitation of a State’s adjudicatory authority, it makes sense to rely on the localization of the dispute (or elements thereof) to organize it in a neutral way. The specific jurisdiction rule in matters relating to tort based on the location of the harmful event (art. 7 para. 2 of Brussels I recast regulation) perfectly embodies this locational approach to international judicial jurisdiction.

However, this proximity-based approach is faced with dire difficulties, namely the growing virtualization of entire swathes of human activities and the rise in crossborder private relations. More fundamentally, the vision of international jurisdiction as being based on the principle of proximity pays little attention to the notion that international jurisdiction is an organization by the State of its duty to render justice, be it with regards to crossborder private relations. The thesis opposes the locational analysis with a new approach to international jurisdiction that puts forward the substantive considerations specific to the underlying issue of the dispute, considerations that have remained at least partly hidden until now. In this perspective, the rules of international jurisdiction should reflect policy considerations which can be observed at two levels: at the level of procedural justice and at the level of substantive justice. It is the goal of this work to study the influence of these policy considerations on the rules of international jurisdiction with regards to crossborder tort cases.

As the subtitle indicates, the demonstration focuses on tort matters. Indeed, international litigation relating to civil liability, such as actions for damages against international polluters, transnational corporations responsible for human rights violations, corporations issuing securities on the financial markets, as well as cyber-torts, highlight in a particularly striking manner the need to base jurisdiction on something other than the location of the material elements of the dispute. Although the demonstration focuses particularly on the rules of jurisdiction in tort, it is not limited to them: it allows itself more general incursions into the system of jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters (in French, American and European Union private international law).

The thesis is articulated in two parts: the demonstration of the inadequacy of proximity as a basis for international jurisdiction (first part) leads to an outline of a concept of international jurisdiction based on substantive considerations (second part).

A Critical Assessment of the Principle of Proximity

The first part is devoted to a critical approach of the principle of proximity both from a historical point of view and a functional point of view. It examines each of the objectives pursued by the jurisdiction rules, based on the principle of proximity: evidential effectiveness; foreseeability; administrability of solutions. The weaknesses of the objectives of evidential efficiency and predictability leads to doubts about the role of the location operation in determining international jurisdiction. A study of the case law of the European Court of Justice on the subject of article 7(2) of the Brussels I bis Regulation reveals an instrumentalization of the location of the material elements of the dispute. This instrumentalization can be observed from the very beginnings of European case law on torts in the solutions given for complex torts with monolocalized harm (hypothesis of the Mines de Potasse judgment) and plurilocalized harm (hypothesis of the Fiona Shevill judgment) and for torts with continuous harm (hypothesis of the Dumez, Marinari and Kronhofer judgments). In all these cases, territorial location is manipulated, for purely argumentative purposes, so as to arrive at a solution which is not in any way dictated by location. This phenomenon is further accentuated by the growing immateriality of human activities, which can be observed in economic matters and through the figure of cyber-crimes. The loss of materiality of at least part of the elements of the dispute reveals the artificiality of the territorial localization operation and brings to light the balancing of interests at the heart of the jurisdictional question, between the interests of the alleged victim and those of the alleged perpetrator of the harm.

Substantive Considerations Underlying Rules of Jurisdiction

The second part is devoted to the study of this balancing of interests, apprehended through the notion of substantive considerations and made possible by the deconstruction of the principle of proximity. These considerations can be considered at two levels: that of procedural justice and that of truly substantive justice.

At the level of procedural justice, the most striking phenomenon is the decline of the traditional objective of jurisdictional protection of the defendant, around the principle of forum rei, and its progressive reversal in favor of the plaintiff, resulting in the rise of forum actoris. This phenomenon is complex and sometimes ambiguous because of the contradictory orientations adopted, as shown by the contradictory case law interpreting Article 7(2), as well as the difficult question of the regime of international jurisdiction, and in particular the forum non conveniens. At the level of substantive justice, the rise of the promotion of the interests of the plaintiff can be understood when set against the traditional normative and remedial functions of civil liability, both of which militate in favor of the alleged victim (which presupposes the exclusion of actions denying liability). As the case law of the Court of Justice still explicitly refuses to recognize such a protective function to forum delicti, this clarification is necessary and allows to look realistically at avenues for reform.

Looking prospectively, the risk of giving in without restraint to this favor for the claimant, seen in substantive terms as the alleged victim, is to open the way to anarchic forum shopping. A middle way would be to abolish the forum delicti and open a forum victimae instead, the jurisdiction of the alleged victim’s domicile. This forum can be envisaged in two ways. It could be constructed as an ordinary forum in tort, provided that a plausibility check on the alleged victim’s claims is introduced to combat procedural harassment. If this proposal were to be considered too bold, given the persuasive force that the consideration of the defendant’s jurisdictional protection continues to exert, it is possible to conceive of this forum victimae as a forum for the protection of the allegedly weak party. To a certain extent, this seems to be the path taken, albeit implicitly, by the case law of the Court of Justice, notably in the eDate and Kolassa judgments.

This substantive reading of the rule of jurisdiction is transversal and not exclusive of more occasional and more salient incursions of a substantial interest of the forum which will make the rule of jurisdiction subject to the pursuit of a substantive policy. This substantive interest of the forum may take the form of legislative policies (loi de police) or fundamental values (public policy) of the forum. To study the influence of overriding mandatory provisions on the rules of jurisdiction, it is necessary to go beyond the dogma of the independence of legislative and judicial jurisdictions, affirmed in a Monster Cable decision by the French Cour de Cassation. The outcome may be twofold. It may open the possibility, in some cases, of a purposeful correspondence between legislative competence and jurisdictional competence. It also militates in favor of the imperative nature of adjudicatory jurisdiction when an overriding mandatory rule is applicable. However, mandatory rules are not the only substantive elements that have an influence on the determination of international jurisdiction. The fundamental values of the forum are also likely to leave their mark on the rules of jurisdiction. The emergence of the forum of necessity is a cross-cutting example as it concerns access to justice, but other fundamental rights may be affected, notably personal freedom. The violation of such a right could give French courts universal civil jurisdiction to entertain a possible action for damages.

Finally, the thesis moves to draw the consequences of the demonstration beyond the rules of direct international jurisdiction, in the relations between the jurisdictional organizations of different States. In this perspective, the substantive approach to the rules of jurisdiction calls into question the international fungibility of courts, a precondition to a jurisdictional system such as the Brussels system. Whether this fungibility really exists or not is open to debate, and the ambiguous role of the forum delicti – merely justified by location but playing the part of a tool of protection of the claimant – should be put in this context. In this perspective the substantial approach to jurisdiction also helps to conceptualize the debate around the universalization of the Brussels system and the coexistence of several systems of jurisdiction for a single judicial system (Brussels I and national law), as well as the meaning and relevance of the control of indirect jurisdiction.

Some of the conclusions of this thesis have been summarized in English in an article entitled ‘Delendum est Forum Delicti? Towards the jurisdictional protection of the alleged victim in cross-border torts’ published in B. Hess, K. Lenaerts and V. Richard (ed.), The 50th anniversary of the European law of civil procedure, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2020, (259) p. 263 et seq.

La situation en Ukraine fait actuellement l’objet d’une mobilisation judiciaire sans précédent. Le point sur les différentes initiatives et procédures en cours et sur les questions que soulève cette effervescence aussi bien sur le plan juridique que politique. 

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The most recent issue of the German Journal of Comparative Law (Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft) has just been published. The editors mourn the loss of Professor Peter Mankowski (1966–2022), who served as an editor of the ZVglRWiss from 2009 to his untimely death. This issue contains an obituary written by his academic pupil, Professor Oliver L. Knöfel (Viadrina). In addition, this issue offers several presentations made at the conference “Access – Lessons from Africa” that was held at the University of Bayreuth as well as articles on international tort and corporate law. Here are the abstracts:

 

Eghosa O. Ekhator: Multinational Corporations, Accountability and Environmental Justice: The move towards subregional litigation in Africa

In the absence of an explicit international framework on the regulation of the crossborder activities of multinational corporations (MNCs), coupled with the barriers to accessing environmental justice through litigation in domestic courts, many victims of environmental injustice now institute cases in foreign jurisdictions especially the home states of the MNCs because they believe they will get justice in those courts. On the other hand, there is plethora of sub-regional institutions that have been relied upon by victims of environmental injustices arising from activities of MNCs in Africa. This article focuses on the reliance on sub-regional judiciaries in Africa by different stakeholders including oil producing communities, individuals, and other relevant stakeholders amongst others. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice (ECCJ) is used as the case-study in this article. Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in Nigeria have also relied on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice (ECCJ) to seek redress for victims of environmental injustice in Nigeria.

 

Claudia Maria Hofmann: Linkages between access to information and access to health care

Information plays a crucial role when it comes to health care. This article elaborates its enabling function with regard to strengthening the position of patients. To this end, reference is made to the human right to health, which is widely acknowledged in both international and regional human rights instruments. In this article, the interpretation provided by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its general comment no. 14 on the right to the highest attainable standard of health serves as a basis for identifying the key elements state and non-state actors should take into account when providing health-related information to the public.

 

Victoria Miyandazi: Inequality and Access to Justice: A Focus on the Adjudication of Socio-Economic Rights in Kenya

Kenya’s 2010 Constitution establishes the necessary legal framework for tackling inequalities in the country. The multiple provisions on equality, non-discrimination and socio-economic rights create the impetus for rights-based litigation. Now society wants to claim these rights but there are still many hurdles to do so. Many special interest groups do not have access to lawyers nor the skills to access courts on their own. The growing concern is, therefore, that despite the progressive nature of constitutional provisions that seek to tackle inequalities in the country, they are not by themselves the panacea to the problem of access to justice in the country. Aside from the prohibitive cost of legal representation being a major concern, there are other access to justice challenges that inhibit the poor and marginalised in Kenya from instituting claims in court, and which also affect their chances of succeeding in their claims. This article discusses how an equality-sensitive approach to adjudicating socio-economic rights can help avoid reinforcing inequality and promote equality. It argues that failure to apply such an approach can exacerbate the inequality and access to justice challenges that vulnerable groups already face, especially in times of a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Justin Monsenepwo: Decolonial Comparative Law and Legal Transplants in Africa

On the occasion of a communication made in the aftermath of independence, many African scholars wondered whether African law would continue to be influenced by French law. More than five decades after, the mark of the considerable influence European law has in African former colonies is still perceptible. Yet, in a decolonized context, it should not be implied that European nations rank higher than African nations and that the laws of the former colonizers provide better solutions to African problems. To decolonize legal thinking in Africa, this contribution suggests improving the training of African lawyers and rediscovering customary law to take it into account in the development of legal rules in Africa. This would offer several practical benefits; however, the chief benefit is that it would remarkably boost the ability of lawyers and lawmakers in Africa to innovate.

 

Aron Johanson, Andreas Rapp and Anna Vatter: Mosaiktheorie ad absurdum – Örtliche Zuständigkeit im Rahmen des Art. 7 Nr. 2 EuGVVO bei Persönlichkeitsrechtsverletzungen

The article deals with the case law developed by the ECJ on the question of jurisdiction according to article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation in cases of infringement of personality rights. In particular, the so-called “mosaic approach“ is examined, which the ECJ has consistently applied to solve the problem of such multiple locality cases. The article pays particular attention to the hitherto little-discussed problem of local jurisdiction. It is first shown that the predominant German legal practice in this regard is regularly incompatible with article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation. At the same time, the consistent application of the mosaic approach in the area of local jurisdiction also leads to completely absurd and thus equally unacceptable results. Therefore, the article is rounded off with brief considerations on how local jurisdiction can be determined sensibly and in conformity with European law.

 

Luca Della Tommasina: Genossenschaften und nachrangige Mitgliederdarlehen

The essay deals with Italian cooperative companies and the possibility to extend some sort of equitable subordination rule to the loans granted by their members. The article 2467 of the Italian civil code provides that the loans granted to limited liability companies (società a responsabilità limitata – „S.r.l.”) by any member shall be subordinated to the other creditors of the company if at the time the loan is advanced: (i) there is an excessive imbalance between the company’s indebtedness and the net assets; (ii) or the company’s financial situation would require an equity contribution instead of a loan. In the cooperative companies’ field the problem arises from the convergence of two circumstances. On the one hand the argument that article 2467 is compatible with cooperative firms has been rejected in the Italian case law. On the other hand, in 2017 a reform of cooperative law has excluded the subordination (and more precisely the subordination according to the article 2467) for the amounts that a cooperative company receives from its members as “prestito sociale”. The essay is intended to demonstrate that: (i) the (equitable) subordination is consistent with cooperative firms; (ii) the 2017 reform must therefore be interpreted in a restrictive way. The need to find balanced solutions to the problem seems to be confirmed by the recent developments of the German legal framework.

 

The Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft was founded in 1878 and is Germany’s oldest continuously published periodical on comparative and private international law. Its current editor-in-chief is Professor Dörte Poelzig, M.jur. (Oxon), University of Hamburg. Content is available online either through the website of the Deutscher Fachverlag or via beck online.

 

The arbitration community in particular was eagerly awaiting judgment of the US Supreme Court in ZF Automotive v Luxshare. SCOTUS has now held that the use of the relevant US CPR rule, on assistance of foreign tribunals, does not apply to arbitration.

Matthias Lehmann reviews the judgment here and makes valid points on how the ruling could and perhaps should have gone the other way, particularly in light of the use of ‘international’ and ‘tribunal’. Whatever the merits of the finding, it confirms a limiting approach courts are taking in accepting discovery shopping. This is also testified eg by the Dutch courts’ approach in Kiobel, and the English courts’ approach in Akkurate and, in an alternative view, in Glaxo v Sandoz.

Geert.