Introduction to the Online Symposium on E. Aristova’s ‘Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations’
On 25 April 2024, Oxford University Press published an important book in its Private International Law series: Ekaterina Aristova, Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations: The Challenge of Jurisdiction in English Courts (OUP 2024).
The blurb reads:
There is an emerging trend of private claims being brought against parent companies of transnational corporations for their alleged involvement in human rights and environmental abuses committed abroad. These cases form part of an international effort aimed at strengthening responsible business conduct, the success of which depends on the rules governing domestic courts’ power to adjudicate disputes. However, in an increasingly globalised environment, the territorial focus of the adjudicative jurisdiction is often contrary to the transnational nature of the business activities.
To address this puzzle, Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations seeks to answer three questions: Firstly, to what extent can English courts, under existing rules, exercise jurisdiction over an English parent company and its foreign subsidiaries as co-defendants? Secondly, is England a suitable forum for deciding transnational human rights claims? And, finally, should the jurisdictional competence of the English courts be broadened through a new connecting factor derived from the ‘economic enterprise’ theory?
While the book is written from the perspective of English law, it also draws on examples of similar claims in other jurisdictions to broaden the discussion. It offers a new angle to the business and human rights discourse by placing the discussion of parent company liability cases in the context of the topical debate about the changing role of private international law in a globalised world.
Given the importance of the book, which addresses contemporary challenges that have been capturing the imagination of private international law (and other) scholars and practitioners, in the EU and beyond, for decades, the editors of the EAPIL Blog have decided to host a symposium on this book. The symposium will take place on 9-11 December 2024 and will consist of the following six posts: Ekaterina Aristova, Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations and the Challenge of Jurisdiction: An Introduction; Peter Muchlinski, Tort Litigation Against Transnational Corporations in the Business and Human Rights Framework; Geert Van Calster, Jurisdiction of English Courts in Foreign Direct Liability Claims; Mukarrum Ahmed, A Different Forum (Non) Conveniens Test for Tort Litigation against Transnational Corporations?; Dalia Palombo, Who is Benefiting from the “Neutrality” of Private International Law?; and Ekaterina Aristova, PostScriptum: Barrick Gold in the Canadian Court, the Jurisdictional Veil and What Lies Ahead.
Readers are encouraged to participate in the discussion by commenting on the posts.