European private international law is by now based mainly on a large body of uniform rules such as the Regulations Rome I, Rome II, Brussels I, Brussels I bis. This significant legislative output, however, does not take place in a vacuum. Rules of private international law have been earlier (and still are) adopted at national, international and even European level in scattered regulations and directives. The recent plethora of private international law rules gives rise to issues of delineation and calls for some sort of ordering as gaps, overlaps and contradictions become flagrant. At the same time, the resulting interactions can offer new insight, ideas and even opportunities at a more theoretical level. This book gathers a collection of essays resulting out of a series of international seminars held in Lyon, Barcelona and Louvain-la-Neuve. During those seminars, young researchers selected in an open call for papers had the opportunity to discuss their views among themselves as well as with various specialists of the field, such as more senior academics, EU civil servants, national experts and representatives of other international organisations. The book offers the fresh views of those who will in the future shape the dialectic between the various sources of private international law and attempts to launch a discussion on the “living together” of legal sources. Two ranges of topics are addressed in the book: - firstly, the relationship between EU private international law and national law (substantial and procedural) and/or international law (international instruments of private international law or of uniform substantive law); and - secondly, the relationship between EU private international law and other aspects of EU law (internal market rules of primary law, harmonisation through secondary law and other pieces of legislation enacted in the realm of the area of freedom, security and justice).

In fifty years, European private international law has undergone significant changes. Increased globalization and the emergence of e-commerce has led to a greater need for and more widespread reliance on private international law. As a result, most legal practitioners can no longer avoid it in their day-to-day practices. Each year, the Jura Falconis conference is held to discuss prior developments, draw lessons from the past and offer perspectives for the future of European private international law. The 50th anniversary of the Brussels Convention (1968) presented itself as the perfect discussion point for the 2018 conference. European Private International Law at 50 is the written result of the 2018 conference. It brings together legal experts and provides the reader with a thorough examination of the most important aspects of the field, considering possible future developments and the impact of Brexit.

Each year, the Jura Falconis conference is held to discuss prior developments, draw lessons from the past and offer perspectives for the future of European private international law. The 50th anniversary of the Brussels Convention (1968) presented itself as the perfect discussion point for the 2018 conference.

European private international law, as it stands in the Rome I, II, and III Regulations and the recent Succession Regulation, presents manifold risks of diverging judgments despite seemingly harmonised conflict of law rules. There is now a real danger, in light of the rapid increase in the number of legal instruments of the European Union on conflict of laws, that European private international law will become incoherent. This collection of essays by twenty noted scholars in the field sheds clear light on the pivotal issues of whether a set of overarching rules (a 'general part') is required, whether an EU regulation is the adequate legal instrument for such a purpose, which general questions such an instrument should address, and what solutions such an instrument should provide. In analysing the possible emergence of general principles in European private international law over the past years, the contributors discuss such issues and factors as the following: – the relationship between conflict of laws and recognition; - the room for party autonomy; - the concept of habitual residence; - adaptation when interplay between different laws leads to deadlock; - public policy exceptions; - the desirability of a general escape clause; - the classic topics of characterisation, incidental question, and renvoi; and - right to appeal in case of errors in the application of foreign law. Practitioners dealing with these notoriously difficult cases will welcome this in-depth treatment of the issues, as will interested policymakers throughout the EU Member States and at the EU level itself. Scholars will discover an incomparable comparative analysis leading to expert recommendations in European private international law, opening the way to an effective European framework in this area.

This concise book is mainly intended to be used as an introduction to the rules of private international law belonging to the legal system of the European Union. It provides legal practitioners with an overview of this highly complex field of law and can serve as an introductory textbook in elective undergraduate courses and master programs offered today by many law schools both to their own students and to exchange students from other countries. The book will hopefully also be useful as a spring-board towards more profound studies of statutory texts, case law and legal literature. Michael Bogdan is Professor of Comparative and Private International Law at the University of Lund, Sweden.

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition analyses in detail the current development of private international law at European Union level.

From 2005 on the Yearbook of Private International Law is published by S.ELP in cooperation with the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law. This English-language annual publication provides analysis and information on private international law developments world-wide. The Editors commission articles of enduring importance concerning the most significant trends in the field. The Yearbook also devotes attention to the important work and research carried out in the context of the Hague Conference, The Hague Academy, UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT. The authority of the editors and the lasting nature of the works included make the Yearbook an integral addition to the libraries of international law scholars and practitioners.