How European is European Private International Law? (Berlin, 2/3 March 2018)

How European is European Private International Law?

Conference - Berlin, 2 and 3 March 2018

Over the course of the last decades the European legislature has adopted a total of 18 Regulations in the area of private international law (including civil procedure). The resulting substantial degree of legislative unification has been described as the first true Europeanisation of private international law and even as a kind of "European Choice of Law Revolution". However, until today it is largely unclear whether the far-reaching unification of the "law on the books" has turned private international law into a truly European "law in action": To what extent is European private international law actually based on uniform European rules common to all Member States rather than on state treaties or instruments of enhanced cooperation? Is the way academics and practitioners analyze and interpret European private international law really different from previously existing domestic approaches to private international law? Or is the actual application and interpretations of European private international law rather still influenced or even dominated by national legal traditions, leading to a defragmentation of a supposedly uniform body of law?
With this conference we aim to shed light on the present lack of "Europeanness" of European private international law and to discuss how European private international law can become more truly European in the future.

PROGRAMME

Friday, 2 March 2018

09:00 am: Registration
09:30 am: Welcome addresses: The Europeanisation of Private International Law
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Basedow
Prof. Dr. Giesela Rühl
Dr. Andreas Stein

1st part - EUROPEANNESS OF LEGAL SOURCES
10:00 am: The relationship between EU and international Private International Law instruments
Speaker: Prof. Pietro Franzina
Comment: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Basedow
10:45 am: Discussion
11:15 am: Coffee break
11:45 am: The relationship between EU and Member State Private International Law
Speaker: Prof. Johan Meeusen
Comment: Prof. Dr. Jan von Hein
12:30 pm: Discussion
01:00 pm: Lunch break

2nd part - EUROPEANNESS OF COURT PRACTICE
02:00 pm: The application of European Private International Law and the ascertainment of foreign law
Speaker: Prof. Marta Requejo Isidro
Comment: Prof. Paul Beaumont
02:45 pm: Discussion
03:15 pm: Coffee break
03:45 pm: The application of European Private International Law and the role of national judges
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Agnieszka Frąckowiak-Adamska
Comment: Prof. Michael Hellner
04:30 pm: Discussion
05:00 pm: The application of European Private International Law and the role of national court systems
Speaker: Prof. Xandra Kramer
Comment: Prof. Pedro de Miguel Asensio
05:45 pm: Discussion

06:15 pm: End of day 1
07:30 pm: Reception and dinner: Launch of the Encyclopedia of Private International Law
By invitation of the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung; Location: Restaurant of the Harnack-Haus Berlin

Saturday, 3 March 2018

3rd part - EUROPEANNESS OF ACADEMIC DISCOURSE AND LEGAL EDUCATION
08:30 am: National styles of academic discourse and their impact on European Private International Law
Speaker: Prof. Sabine Corneloup
Comment: Prof. Dário Moura Vicente
09:15 am: Discussion
09:45 am: Coffee break
10:15 am: Overriding mandatory laws, public policy and European Private International Law
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Marc-Philippe Weller
Comment: Prof. Stéphanie Francq
11:00 am: Discussion
11:30 am: Legal education and European Private International Law
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Thomas Kadner Graziano
Comment: Prof. Gilles Cuniberti
12:15 pm: Discussion
12:45 pm: Lunch break
02:00 pm: Panel discussion: The future of European Private International Law in theory and practice
Prof. Paul Beaumont
Prof. Gilles Cuniberti
Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Kieninger
Prof. Johan Meeusen
Prof. Marta Requejo Isidro
Karen Vandekerckhove
04:00 pm: Concluding remarks
Prof. Dr. Jan von Hein

More information is available on the conference website and on the conference flyer. Please register by 1 February 2018.