Mr Jacco Bomhoff, F6.29

This course is optional for 2nd and 3rd year LLB students and for BA Anthropology and Law. Students are advised, where possible, to take this course as a 3rd year rather than a 2nd year option. Not available as an outside option. Available to General Course students.

A good knowledge of law is required.

Conflict of laws - also know as private international law - is the area of law concerned with cases in which the facts present one or more international element. The field's central technical questions are (1) jurisdiction (will an English court or a foreign court hear a case?), (2) choice of law (should the court apply its own law or that of a foreign country?), (3) the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements, During the course, these three questions will frame reflection on a range of topics, including commercial/practical issues (how can companies structure their cross-border transactions), but also questions of a more political nature (to what extent should States be able to regulate matters beyond their own borders?) or with a strong social/cultural dimension (how should foreign cultural understandings be accommodated in domestic law?). Because of the growing role of the European Union in this area, the interaction between English and European approaches to conflict of laws issues will be an important running theme throughout the course.

(1) jurisdiction in international commercial litigation under the traditional English rules and in European law, (2) recognition and enforcement of foreign judgements under European rules and at common law, (3) complex litigation, (4) choice of law in contract and tort, (5) public policy, mandatory rules and exclusion of foreign law, (6) comparative aspects and theoretical foundations of the conflict of laws.

22 weekly two-hour seminars (LL212).

Two essays.

In addition to the Course Reader provided on Moodle, the following texts may serve as sources of reference throughout the course: Jonathan Hill & Adeline Chong, International Commercial Disputes (4th ed, 2010); Trevor Hartley, International Commercial Litigation (2009); Peter North & James Fawcett, Cheshire & North's Private International Law (14th ed, summer 2008); Adrian Briggs, The Conflict of Laws (2008).

Three-hour written examination paper in ST.