scholarly journals What law should apply then? The implications of the successful invocation of the public policy defence in EU private international law in family matters

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 956-970
Author(s):  
Ilaria Aquironi

The EU legislation in the area of private international law addresses explicitly the “negative” aspect of public policy, i.e. the non-application of the otherwise applicable law on the ground that it is at variance with the fundamental values of the forum. By contrast, the legislative measures adopted so far remain silent as to the law or rules that one should apply as a result of the successful invocation of the public policy defence. The paper aims, first, to assess the approach whereby the latter issue should be decided in accordance with the private international law rules of the forum. Secondly, the paper contends that an autonomous solution to the issue of the subsidiarily applicable law should mirror the goals pursued by the EU legislator – namely autonomy, flexibility, proximity and foreseeability –, and enshrined in the already adopted instruments dealing with the conflict of laws, rather than following the more widely known and endorsed approaches either not ensuring foreseeability and legal certainty, or leading to the immediate application of the lex fori. The focus will be on conflict-of-law rules in family matters, although similar patterns can be exported to other areas of the judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.

Author(s):  
Lucie Zavadilová

The unification of the conflict-of-law rules in matters of matrimonial property regimes at EU level seeks to mitigate differences in substantive law in particular legal systems. The aim of this contribution is to analyse the doctrine of overriding mandatory provisions and consider the applicability of the public policy exception, which limit the application of the law otherwise applicable determined in compliance with the unified conflict-of-law rules. The question author addresses in this paper is whether these institutes of the general part of private international law provide for sufficient safeguards to protect the fundamental values and public interests of the forum law in matters of matrimonial property regimes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 498
Author(s):  
Juliana Rodríguez Rodrigo

Resumen: En este trabajo vamos a explicar los tres problemas de aplicación que se encuentran contemplados en el Reglamento sucesorio europeo. De los tres, el orden público, la remisión a ordena­mientos plurilegislativos y el reenvío, este último es el que presenta una regulación más particular. En efecto, esta norma sucesoria se aparta de la línea general de excluir esta figura que siguen el resto de Reglamentos europeos de Derecho Internacional Privado. Además de lo anterior, el Reglamento no sólo admite el reenvío sino que, también, lo permite hasta de segundo grado.Palabras clave: orden público, ordenamientos plurilegislativos, reenvío, Reglamento sucesorio europeo.Abstract: In this paper we will explain the three application problems that are covered by the European Succession Regulation. Of the three, the public policy, the remission to States with more than one legal system and the renvoi, the latter is the one that presents a more particular regulation. In effect, the Regulation departs from the general line of excluding this figure, which is followed by the rest of the European Regulations on Private International Law. In addition, the Regulation not only allows it, but also allows it up to the second degree.Keywords: public policy, states with more than one legal system, renvoi, the EU succession Re­gulation


Author(s):  
Julia Hörnle

Chapter 8 examines the harmonized provisions on private international law in the EU. It discusses the conflict of law rules in civil and commercial matters contained in the Brussels Regulation on Jurisdiction and the Rome I Regulation (applicable law contracts) and Rome II Regulation (non-contractual obligations). It analyses their scope of application and the general and special rules of jurisdiction for contract and torts, and the law applicable to different types of contracts and non-contractual liability. It provides a general overview of the main aspects of private international law in the EU and how this applies in internet cases.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
Luis A. López Zamora

 Resumen: El derecho del arbitraje internacional no es estrictamente internacional ni doméstico. A decir verdad, aquel cuerpo legal constituye un producto de la voluntad de las partes que han elegido resol­ver sus litigios mediante aquel tipo de mecanismo de solución de controversias. Ahora bien, aunque ello es así, dichas atribuciones presentan ciertos límites. Y es que, los laudos arbitrales internacionales formulados bajo aquellas libertades, son en estricto una forma de justicia privada y, como resultado de ello, los Estados en donde los mismos busquen ser ejecutados podrán rechazar su implementación en ciertas circunstancias. Una de aquellas circunstancias se produce cuando un laudo arbitral infringe el orden público (ordre public) del Estado donde éste busca ser ejecutado. Esta es una regla ampliamente reconocido, sin embargo, genera un problema. Y es que, la noción del orden público es contingente por naturaleza y, dado ello, ha sido nece­sario que su aplicación proceda solo en circunstancias excepcionales. Como resultado de esto, algunos aca­démicos y tribunales estatales han tratado de formular una noción del orden público de tipo internacional con el fin de establecer un contenido más restrictivo a aquella excepción. Sin embargo, esta terminología ha sido construida solo como una forma de identificar una sub-sección del orden público estatal. Esto lleva a ciertas preguntas: ¿Está el arbitraje internacional y, sus instituciones, circunscritas a elementos puramente domésticos? ¿Dónde queda la faceta internacional de los contratos de comercio internacional y de inver­siones si la excepción del orden público fuese a ser analizada desde un enfoque puramente estatal? Estas dudas han sido –tomadas en cuenta de alguna forma, en algunos sistemas legales, en donde el uso del orden público internacional ha sido estructurado en términos verdaderamente internacionales. Sin embargo, esto último también crea interrogantes a plantearse: ¿Qué implica hablar del orden público en el plano interna­cional? ¿Cuál es su contenido y, puede ser utilizado de forma práctica para excluir la ejecución de un laudo arbitral internacional? ¿Cuál es el rol del Derecho Internacional Público en todo esto? ¿Si el verdadero orden público internacional es utilizado, será aquel un punto de contacto entre el Derecho Internacional Público y el Derecho Internacional Privado? Estas y otras interrogantes serán tratadas en este espacio.Palabras clave: arbitraje internacional, orden público, orden público internacional, ejecución de laudos arbitrales, relación entre el derecho internacional público y el derecho internacional privado.Abstract: International arbitration is not domestic nor international in nature. In fact, the law appli­cable to that kind of proceedings can be considered a byproduct of the will of private parties. However, this wide attribution recognized to individuals have some limits. In this regard, it must be born in mind that arbitral awards represent a sort of private justice and, therefore, States requested to execute those kind of decisions can refuse their enforcement within their jurisdictions. One scenario that entails the non-enforcement of and arbitral award happens when the decision collides with the public policy (ordre public) of the State where is supposed to be implemented. This is widely recognized as a fundamental rule in international arbitration, nevertheless, a problem arises. The notion of public policy is contingent in nature and, because of that, it requires to be applied in very specific circumstances. That is why some academics and state tribunals have formulated the notion of international public policy as a term directed to narrow the content of that institution, but using to that end purely domestic legal content. In this sense, the term international public policy emerged as a merely sub-section of domestic public policy divested of any international meaning. In that context: ¿should international arbitration institutions (as the excep­tion of ordre public), be understood by purely domestic elements? ¿Where would be the international aspect of international commercial contract or investment if the exception of public policy is analyzed by purely domestic constructions? Those doubts have pushed in some systems, the formulation of in­ternational public policy in truly international terms. This is somehow welcomed, however, this usage creates additional doubts: ¿What does a public policy of the international realm entail? ¿What is its content and, can that be used in practical ways to exclude the enforcement of and international arbitral award? ¿What is the role of Public International Law in all of this? ¿If truly international public policy is used by domestic tribunals, would that be a point of connection between Public International Law and Private International Law? These and other questions will be entertained in this paper.Keywords: international arbitration, public policy, international public policy, enforcement of ar­bitral awards, public international law – private international law relationship.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 241-252
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Pacuła

On 12 September 2019, the premises of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland) witnessed one of such events, which will arguably go down in history of private international law in Poland. On that day, the University hosted an international conference on the Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession (“the Succession Regulation”), and on the various issues relating to the succession matters within the European area of freedom, security and justice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 718
Author(s):  
María José Valverde Martínez ◽  
Javier Carrascosa González

  Resumen: El presente trabajo expone y analiza los criterios de solución empleados por el Tribunal Supremo para dar respuesta a la cuestión de saber si dos mujeres, viudas de un sujeto legalmente casado con ambas en Marruecos, pueden ser beneficiarias de la pensión de viudedad generada por dicho sujeto. El Tribunal Supremo acoge e implementa la tesis del orden público internacional atenuado. Lo hace al mar­gen de todo convenio internacional y de todo precepto legal porque entiende que el orden público atenuado protege los fundamentos jurídicos de la sociedad española y permite, al mismo tiempo, que un matrimonio legalmente celebrado en Marruecos, surta ciertos efectos legales en España. En particular, admite que ambas esposas puedan ser consideradas beneficiarias, a partes iguales, de la pensión de viudedad española.Palabras clave: orden público internacional, pensión de viudedad, poligamia, Derecho internacio­nal privadoAbstract: This paper deals with the criteria used by the Supreme Court of Spain in order to answer the question of whether two women, widows of the same husband, both legally married in Morocco, can be regarded as beneficiaries of the widow’s pension generated by their husband. The Supreme Court of Spain implements a mitigated public policy effect even though no international convention applies to the case. Once guaranteed that the legal foundations of Spanish society are safe, the Spanish Supreme Court activates an attenuated public policy to allow some legal effects of a marriage legally celebrated in Morocco. Among them, the court admits that both wives can be considered beneficiaries, in equal parts, of the Spanish widow’s pension.Keywords: public policy, widow’s pension, polygamy, private international law. 


Author(s):  
Mann F A

Comity is one of the most ambiguous and multifaceted conceptions in the law in general and in the realm of international affairs in particular. It may denote no more than that courtoisie international, that courtesy which ships observe when they salute each other or which is usual among diplomats or even judges. At the opposite extreme it may be a synonym for public international law. Or it may mean, not a rule of law at all, but a standard to be respected in the course of exercising judicial or administrative discretion. Or it may be the equivalent of private international law (or the conflict of laws) or at least indicate the policy underlying particular rules or what is more generally known as public policy. Or it may be used to justify the existence of the conflict of laws or the origin of its sources or the public policy pursued by it. In most cases the meaning of comity is coextensive with public international law.


Amicus Curiae ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-49
Author(s):  
Mary V. Newbury

Foreign act of state, the principle that a domestic court will not ‘sit in judgment’ over the acts of foreign countries, is coming under increasing scrutiny, as illustrated by the recent case of Belhaj v Straw (2017). This article traces the emergence of the principle out of traditional rules of private international law that, according to Belhaj, continue to constrain the doctrine. The essay provides a practical guide to the doctrine for use by other judges, who will usually come across act of state in the context of a motion to dismiss or to strike out pleadings. The author reviews five key cases which have considered whether a ‘unifying’ doctrine exists apart from choice of law rules of private international law; whether the principle is one of jurisdiction, non-justiciability, or something different; and the nature of the ‘public policy’ exception. She suggests that the ‘disaggregation’ of act of state into four ‘rules’ posited in Belhaj will remain the organizing framework of the doctrine in the medium term—despite Lord Sumption’s attempts to condense it into one or two rules. She suggests the Supreme Court is departing from the notion of act of state as a broad and inflexible principle of jurisdiction and from the notion that courts should use it in cases where requested by the government to avoid embarrassment to its foreign policy. The author disagrees with the observation, made in Yukos Capital SAR v Rosneft Oil Co (2012), that non-justiciability—the notion that certain issues are inappropriate for domestic courts to adjudicate—has ‘subsumed’ act of state. Rather, it is doubtful that non-justiciability should continue to be regarded as part of the law of act of state. Whether act of state is restricted to acts taking place within the territory of the foreign state, whether it applies to all types of whether it applies to lawful as well as unlawful executive actions, or to judicial acts, still remain uncertain. The greater significance of Belhaj is seen to lie in the Court’s adoption of the public policy exception to act of state in certain circumstances. Five of the seven judges agreed that UK courts should adapt to modern conditions in the form of rules of public policy that are ‘sufficiently fundamental’ to distinguish the conduct in question (in Belhaj, alleged complicity in acts of torture) from other violations of international conventions.


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