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A saga that has kept Malaysians engaged for years has finally founds its conclusion. A woman, named (rather improbably, at least for European observers) Indira Gandhi, was fighting with her ex husband over custody. The ex-husband had converted to Islam and had extended the conversion to their three children, with the consequence that the Syariah courts gave him sole custody. What followed was a whole series of court decisions by civil courts on the one hand and Syariah courts on the other, focusing mainly on the jurisdictional question which set of courts gets to decide matters of religious status and which law—Islamic law or civil law—determines the question. The Malaysian Federal Court now quashed the conversion as regards the children, thereby claiming, at least for children, a priority of the Constitution and the jurisdiction of civil courts.

Although the case is mostly discussed in the context of religious freedom and (civil) judicial review, it also raises core issues of conflict of laws. Malaysia is a country with an interpersonal legal system, which leaves jurisdiction over certain matters of Islamic law to the Syariah courts. Indira Gandhi’s ex-husband here used this system, effectively, for a form of forum shopping: converting to Islam enabled him, ostentatiously, to opt into a system more favorable to his own situation. The background, from the perspective of conflict of laws, is that the decisive connecting factor, namely a person’s religion, is open to manipulation in a way in which other connecting factors are not. According to Article 121 of the Federal Constitution, the civil courts have no jurisdiction over matters of the Syariah Courts. On the other hand, Art. 12(4) of the Constitution provides that a minor’s religion is determined by his parent or guardian, a provision the Syariah Courts neglected here. Letting the Constitution trump leads to a desirable result in this case, but it does not, by itself, resolve the underlying conflict-of-laws issues. Here, as in comparable situations, the doctrinal problem appears to lie first in the issue of unilateral determination of personal status and second in a conflation of issues of jurisdiction and applicable law.

The case is Indira Gandhi v. Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam Perak u.a., [2018] 1 LNS 86 (Federal Court of Malaysia); it is available here. A short summary is here,  another one, including a useful timeline of events, is here. For a very helpful analysis of the case and its background and implications by Jaclyn L. Neo, focusing especially on questions of jurisdiction and judicial review, see here.  A longer discussion by Dian A.H. Shah focuses also on two other cases and more broadly on the issues of religious freedom: Dian A.H. Shah, Religion, conversions, and custody: battles in the Malaysian appellate courts, in  Law and Society in Malaysia: Pluralism, Religion and Ethnicity (Andrew Harding/Dian A.H. Shah eds., 2018). The affair is also discussed in Yvonne Tew‘s article ‘Stealth Theocracy,’ which is forthcoming with the Virginia Journal of International Law.

Non admission

Non admission

Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, vol. 10, nr. 1, has just been released. Cuadernos publishes research papers on private international law, uniform law and comparative private law twice a year (March and October). The journal accepts manuscripts in all main European languages (to submit a paper click here).

The complete number as well as each single contribution can be accessed and downloaded  for free.

Les titres VI et V du projet de loi de programmation pour la justice sont consacrés à la matière pénale. Ce texte entend rompre avec le passé en proposant une réforme globale. Son but est clair : transformer la justice. Quelles sont les principales mesures relatives à la matière pénale ? 

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Par un arrêt de grande chambre du 27 février 2018, la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne, interrogée par la High Court of Justice (Royaume-Uni), répond à la première demande préjudicielle en validité visant formellement des accords internationaux conclus par l’Union européenne.

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Non lieu à renvoi

Renvoi

Non lieu à renvoi

Non-lieu à renvoi

Sécurité sociale, accident du travail

Sécurité sociale, assurances sociales

Sécurité sociale, accident du travail

La Mafia Franchises / EUIPO - Italie (La Mafia SE SIENTA A LA MESA)
Propriété intellectuelle et industrielle
La marque « La Mafia se sienta a la mesa » est contraire à l’ordre public

Blanco Marqués
Sécurité sociale des travailleurs migrants
Le complément de pension accordé en Espagne aux travailleurs en incapacité permanente totale est compatible avec la perception d’une pension de retraite d’un autre État membre ou de la Suisse

On 11 May 2018 the Department of Italian and Supranational Public Law of the University of Milan will host a conference  on Punitive Damages and European Private International Law: State of the Art and Future Developments, in cooperation with the Interest Group on Private International law of the Italian Society of International Law and with the Rivista di diritto internazionale privato e processuale.

The conference takes inspiration from a recent revirement of the Italian Corte di Cassazione (Cass., S.U., 5 July 2017, No 16601) and aims at analysing the private international issues involved by the recognition of  punitive damages within European legal orders.

Speakers and discussants include:

• Giulio Ponzanelli (Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore)
• Lotte Meurkens (Maastricht University)
• Pietro Franzina (University of Ferrara)
• Chiara Tuo (University of Genova)
• Amélie Skierka (Wilmer Hale LLP)
• Antonio Leandro (University of Bari)
• Astrid Stadler (Universität Konstanz)
• Olivera Boskovic (Université Paris Descartes)
• Alex Mills (University College London)
• Giacomo Biagioni (University of Cagliari)
• Cedric Vanleenhove (Ghent University)
• Wolfgang Wurmnest (Universität Augsburg)
• Ornella Feraci (University of Siena)

The complete programme is available here.

Admission is free. Participants are kindly asked to register by 4 May 2018 here.

For information please contact conference.pil.milan@gmail.com.

 

 

A brief update on our previous post regarding the approval of the establishment of the Netherlands Commercial Court by the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer). The bill is now scheduled for rubber-stamping by the Senate (Eerste Kamer) on 27 March 2018. This makes the kick-off date of 1 July 2018 realistic.

We believe that this court will strengthen international commercial complex litigation in the Netherlands, and it offers business litigants an alternative to arbitration and high quality commercial courts in other countries. See also (for Dutch readers) Eddy Bauw and Xandra Kramer, ‘Commercial Court’ is uitkomst voor complexe internationale handelszaken, Het Financieele Dagblad, 11 October 2017.

More news will follow soon.

 

 

Our previous post:

This one is next: the Netherlands Commercial Court! By Georgia Antonopoulou, Erlis Themeli, and Xandra Kramer, Erasmus University Rotterdam

(PhD candidate, postdoc researcher and PI ERC project Building EU Civil Justice)

Following up on our previous post, asking which international commercial court would be established next, the adoption of the proposal for the Netherlands Commercial Court by the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) today answers the question. It will still have to pass the Senate (Eerste Kamer), but this should only be a matter of time. The Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC) is expected to open its doors on 1 July 2018 or shortly after.

The NCC is a specialized court established to meet the growing need for efficient dispute resolution in cross-border civil and commercial cases. This court is established as a special chamber of the Amsterdam District Court and of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. Key features are that proceedings will take place in the English language, and before a panel of judges selected for their wide expertise in international commercial litigation and their English language skills.

To accommodate the demand for efficient court proceedings in these cases a special set of rules of procedure has been developed. The draft Rules of Procedure NCC can be consulted here in English and in Dutch. It goes without saying that the court is equipped with the necessary court technology.

The Netherlands prides itself on having one of the most efficient court systems in the world, as is also indicated in the Rule of Law Index – in the 2017-2018 Report it was ranked first in Civil Justice, and 5th in overall performance. The establishment of the NCC should also be understood from this perspective. According to the website of the Dutch judiciary, the NCC distinguishes itself by its pragmatic approach and active case management, allowing it to handle complex cases within short timeframes, and on the basis of fixed fees.

Entreprise en difficulté (loi du 26 juillet 2005)

Pourvoi c/ Cour d'appel de Paris, Chambre 5-12, 05 décembre 2017

Crocs / EUIPO - Gifi Diffusion (Chaussures)
Propriété intellectuelle et industrielle
Le Tribunal confirme l’annulation de l’enregistrement du dessin de Crocs du fait que celui-ci a été divulgué au public avant son enregistrement