The Academy of European Law (ERA), situated in Trier and with the financial support of the European Commission, organises conferences and summer schools on various topics of EU law. On 5-6 June a conference was held on recent developments in private international law and business law (covering civil jurisdiction, civil procedure, contract, delict, insolvency, and [...]
Thursday, January 31, 2008
PIL abstracts of law teachers’ conferenceA special session on Private International Law was held at the conference of the Society for Law Teachers of Southern Africa, held in Pretoria from 21 to 24 January 2008.
The following papers were delivered:
• Classification and liberative prescription in private international law by Jan Neels
• The role of Private [...]
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
In Bid Industrial Holdings (Pty) Ltd v Strang and another [2007] SCA 144 (RSA) the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa has ruled on 23 November 2007 that arresting a person in order to found or confirm (civil) jurisdiction is unconstitutional. Under South African law, when a person not domiciled in South Africa is [...]
The article discusses the 2005 Hague Convention’s rules on jurisdiction (of the chosen and not-chosen courts) and the recognition and enforcement of resulting judgments. It then goes on to examine the role of the new convention in comparison to other conventions and to the Brussels I Regulation. Reference is made to the different objectives of [...]
Monday, September 10, 2007
The July 2007 ICLQ contains an article by Prof Jan Neels on the revocation of wills in South African private international law with reference to other Commonwealth jurisdictions and the provisions of the Hague Convention on the Conflict of Laws Relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions (1961). Specific reference is made to section [...]
In the case Phelan v Phelan 2007 (1) SA 483 (C) (judgment date 27 July 2006), the High Court of South Africa (Cape Provincial Division) confirmed the conflict of law rule that the place of marriage celebration determines the validity of the marriage. That law applies not only to formal validity, but also to substantial [...]
1) Age of majority now 18 in South African law
The entry into force of certain sections of the Children’s Act No 38 of 2005 on 1 July 2007 has changed the age of majority in South African law. It is now 18, while it was 21 before (Sec 17 of the Act). This is relevant [...]
In a judgment of 17 April 2007, the Court of first instance of Hasselt found that the exception of fraude à la loi did not apply to the following case: A man from India and a woman from The Netherlands married in Sweden. They had no connection to that country (no friends or family; never [...]
In Belgium a practice has developed whereby the Belgian embassies in foreign countries may attach a ‘warning’ when legalising a document. The most frequent example is for repudiation. The warning note will then indicate to the future receiver of the document that according to the embassy, the document concerns the unilateral dissolution of a divorce. [...]
