Third Issue of 2020’s Revue Critique de Droit International Privé

The new issue of the Revue Critique de Droit International Privé (3/2020) is out. It contains three articles and numerous case notes.

In the first article, Horatia Muir Watt (Sciences Po) addresses the challenges raised by the new Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, under a geopolitical perspective (Le droit international privé au service de la géopolitique : les enjeux de la nouvelle Convention de la Haye du 2 juillet 2019 sur la reconnaissance et l’exécution des jugements étrangers en matière civile ou commerciale)

The political stakes of the apparently innocuous legal regime governing the cross-border movement of judgments may be more complex and less rational than it might appear on reading the text of the new international convention, which has succeeded unexpectedly in coming into being twenty years after the failure of the previous great millennium project. The key to understanding these stakes lies in four different directions : the new place of the European Union at the negotiating table, exclusive of its Member States ; the awakening of China to the potential of private international law in terms of soft power to be wielded in support of the rebirth of the imperial Silk Route ; the post Brexit reintroduction of the markets of the Commonwealth into the wider game ; the weakening of the position of the United States in the era of “post-shame”. However, a further factor may be that the rules for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements are caught up in an additional race between competing models of international commercial dispute resolution.

In the second article, Dominique Foussard (Avocat au Conseil d’Etat et à la Cour de Cassation, French Bar) offers the opportunity to (re)discover the great figure of Jean-Jacques Gaspard Foelix (1791-1853) and its contribution to Private international Law (Le droit international privé de Foelix ou l’art périlleux de la transition, 1840-1847).

In the third article, Christiane Lenz (Rechtsanwältin, Qivive Avocats & Rechtsanwälte, German Bar) discusses the issue of provisional measures, pursuant article 35 of the Brussels I Regulation, in a Franco-German perspective (L’exploitation du rapport d’expertise français par le juge allemand : la toute-puissance de l’article 35 du règlement Bruxelles I bis).

Pursuant to Article 35 of Regulation 1215/2012, French Courts can order provisional measures according to Article 145 of the French Code of Civil Procedure despite a jurisdiction clause in favor of German courts if it is necessary to preserve evidence and if the means of evidence are located in France. French expert reports can be used in front of German Courts on the basis of the principle of substitution. In light of Article 35 of Regulation 1215/2012, Article 145 of the French Code of Civil Procedure must be interpreted in a way which does not require the application of the condition « before any legal process ». In addition, Article 35 of Regulation 1215/2012 may prevent the effects of Articles 29 and 31 (2) of Regulation 1215/2012 and the res iudicata effect.

It is worth noting that the editorial by Horatia Muir Watt (Sciences Po), Dominique Bureau (University of Paris II) and Sabine Corneloup (University of Paris II) will soon be available in English on Dalloz website (Slow savoir et transition périlleuse).

The full table of contents is available here.