International Succession and Special Provisions of the Lex Rei Sitae

Naivi Chikoc Barreda (University of Ottawa) authored a book titled Succession internationale et dispositions spéciales de la lex rei sitae – Contribution à l’étude de l’impérativité internationale en matière successorale, published by L’Harmattan.

The English summary reads as follows:

While the unity of the applicable law has unquestionably dominated the history of the harmonization of conflict rules in matters of succession, from the first Hague conventions drafts to Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, its scope has always been nuanced by the special rules of the lex situs. These derogatory provisions have borrowed several techniques of intervention. Initially associated with the public policy clause, their admissibility subsequently transited through a substantially oriented choice-of-law rule, before crystallizing in an atypical clause for the application of overriding mandatory provisions. 

These special rules challenge the conceptual premises of a pyramidal understanding of the “lois de police” built on the paradigm of the domestic mandatory rule. This first monograph on the subject proposes a reflection on the “contradictions” at the heart of the traditional notion of “lois de police”, confronted with the particularities of the succession concerning assets subject to economic, family or social purposes, the conservation of which is often ensured by substantive rules respecting the deceased’s individual autonomy.