The fourth issue of the Journal du droit international for 2023 has been released.
It contains three articles and several case notes relating to private international law issues, including the 2022 annual case-law review of EU private international law coordinated by Louis d’Avout (University of Paris II) and Jean-Sébastien Quéguiner (University of Rennes).
In the first article, Hugues Fulchiron (French Cour de Cassation & University of Lyon 3) analyses the recent EU PIL regulation proposal in matters of parenthood, assessing its chances to be actually adopted (La proposition de règlement européen sur la filiation: coup de maître ou coup d’épée dans l’eau?).
The English abstract reads:
The proposal for a European Regulation on filiation published on December 7, 2022, came as a surprise, given that matters of filiation are an area where national specificities and principles of public order prevail. This is evidenced by the strong opposition among EU Member States on issues related to same-sex parenthood or surrogacy. It aligns with EU policies aimed at recognizing children’s rights and promoting equal treatment for LGBTIQ individuals. It also aims to facilitate the movement of people by ensuring the portability of their status.
To achieve its objectives, the proposal broadens the scope of its jurisdiction and adopts a conflict of laws rule that is sufficiently general and neutral to encompass all situations, from traditional families to same-sex parent families or children born through surrogacy. Above all, everything is designed to facilitate the recognition of parent-child relationships established in a Member State. To this end, a European Certificate of Filiation is notably established. The role of public policy is also strictly limited. Nevertheless, this ambitious project may face opposition from Member States. To avoid roadblocks, it might be necessary to resort to enhanced cooperation and refer questions related to surrogacy to the ongoing work within the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
In the second article, Marylou Françoise (University of Lyon 3) examines the role of (French) courts in private international law disputes from the perspective of the French Draft Code of private international law (L’office du juge à la lumière du projet de Code de droit international privé).
The English abstract reads:
The French draft Code of private international law, submitted to the Minister of Justice on March 31, 2022, modifies a significant number of existing standards. The provisions relating to the powers of a court are particularly affected, renewing the debate on the authority of the conflict of laws and international jurisdiction rule over the judge and the parties. The solution adopted is particularly favorable to the effectiveness of the rule. It requires the judge to verify her or his international jurisdiction and to apply, if necessary ex officio, the conflict of laws rule. However, the proposed framework raises several questions about its implementation. For instance, the scope of the proposal, the status of foreign elements and the form of the procedural agreement, deserve to be discussed.
In the third article, Cécile Legros (University of Rouen Normandie) analyses a recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in matters of international carriage of goods by road (JTI POLSKA Sp. Z o.o. and others v Jakubowski and others [2023] UKSC 19) and addresses questions of interpretation of international conventions in this area (La force du précédent en droit britannique ou les limites de l’interprétation uniforme des conventions internationales de droit matériel).
The English abstract reads:
For once, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has just ruled on a request to reverse established case law. The application sought to put an end to a divergence in case law between the States parties to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road of 19 May 1956 (known as the CMR), which is a uniform law convention. Although the Court refuses to reverse this precedent, the judgment is remarkable in several respects, particularly as regards the method of interpreting uniform law conventions. However, it is disappointing in terms of improving uniform interpretation of the CMR, so that other solutions need to be considered. Soft law thus appears to be a possible remedy for the limitations of uniformization by international conventions.
The table of contents of the issue can be accessed here.
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