Module overview
With the dramatic rise of international trade in the last two to three decades, conflict of laws, also known as private international law, has become a key mechanism for regulating transnational commercial relationships. As it provides the wider legal background against which commercial parties negotiate their contracts and settle or arbitrate their disputes, conflict of laws now belongs to the standard tool kit of any practitioner dealing with transnational commerce. Private international law is the body of law which deals with transnational private disputes (of which are there many) and lays down the ‘meta-rules’ that decide which national court should hear the dispute, which law should be applicable and in what circumstances can a foreign judgement be enforced or recognised. It also seeks to prevent or resolve parallel proceedings concerning the same dispute and provide for security for the claim. Unlike public international law, private international law is, as a starting point, domestic law but has in the European context been harmonised. This module explores the European Regulations on jurisdiction and applicable law and attendant case law of Court of Justice of the EU and English courts, and compares the European rules on jurisdiction with traditional English law on jurisdiction as well as US law.