Embracing Diversity – The Role of the Hague Conference in the Creation of Universal Instruments
The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) has been a laboratory for the development, and servicing, of legal instruments to handle the diversity of legal systems, in the interests of mobile people and of companies acting across borders. In addition to coordinating such diversity through rules on the conflict of laws and of jurisdiction of the courts, modern Hague Conventions have created machinery to facilitate direct cross-border cooperation among different national administrative authorities and courts. This chapter provides illustrations on how the HCCH has sought to bridge three types of diversity of legal systems: among federal, quasi-federal and unitary jurisdictions; Common Law and Civil Law jurisdictions as well as the varieties within them (including differences between the USA and other Common Law systems); and secular and religious systems. The chapter also highlights the importance of inclusive working methods, and the – existing and potential – complementarity of global human rights instruments and Hague Conventions.