Even though there are no formal prerequisites for attending the course, some background knowledge of private law as well as of European Union law would be appropriate, in consideration of the importance of EU legislation in respect of the subject. As concerns students not enrolled in the IECoLS programme, a sufficient command of English is an implied prerequisite.

Transnational legal relationships, ever more frequent in nowadays' world, raise conflict of laws issues. The course will deal with those issues, namely with the allocation of jurisdiction, the choice of the applicable law, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, in light of the extensive body of EU legal acts adopted in the field, as well as of the main international conventions and national legislation on private international law.
The course aims to let students acquire familiarity with the methods developed in both theory and practice of the conflict of laws. Special attention will be devoted in the course to the impact of EU legislation in matters of private international law, and to the vital role of judgments delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning its interpretation, in order to let students develop an ability to apply the relevant legal rules to the circumstances of individual cases.

The course deals with the following topics:

1. The conflict of laws problem: the plurality, and diversity, of national legal systems in an ever more interconnected society.
1.1. The main methods for solving the conflict of laws problem: uniform law vs. private international law methods.
1.2. The coexistence of different levels of regulation of the conflict of laws problem: national conflict of laws rules, private international law conventions and legal acts adopted within the framework of Regional Economic Integration Organizations: the EU case.
1.3. The main legal issues to be dealt with from a conflict of laws perspective: the allocation of jurisdiction, the choice of the applicable law and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments: inter-relationships between these apparently separate legal issues.

2. The allocation of jurisdiction: an overview of the relevant rules.
2.1. The EU rules on jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters: the Brussels Ia Regulation;
2.2. The EU rules on jurisdiction in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility: the Brussels IIa Regulation and its amendment by its recent recast of 2019;
2.3. The EU rules on jurisdiction in other matters (maintenance, succession, matrimonial property, property consequences of registered partnerships);
2.4. The scope left for jurisdiction rules contained in international conventions or domestic legislation.

3. The choice of the applicable law: an overview of the so-called general issues of private international law: characterization; renvoi; preliminary questions; overridingly mandatory rules; public policy.
3.1. The EU rules on the law applicable to contractual obligations: the Rome I Regulation.
3.2. The EU rules on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations: the Rome II Regulation.
3.3. The EU rules on the law applicable to divorce and personal separation: the Rome III Regulation as a first example of an enhanced cooperation within the EU.
3.4. The EU choice of law rules on other matters, including references to relevant international conventions and protocols, and the subsidiary role of domestic choice of law rules.

4. The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments: an overview of the relevant rules.
4.1. The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments within the EU in civil and commercial matters: the Brussels Ia Regulation, and the special rules concerning the European Enforcement Order, the European Order of Payment and the European Small Claims Procedure.
4.2 The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments within the EU in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility: the Brussels IIa Regulation and its recent recast of 2019.
4.3. The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments pursuant to other EU instruments (maintenance, succession, matrimonial property, property consequences of registered partnerships).
4.4. The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in matters not regulated by EU instruments and of third-country courts' judgments: the role of international conventions and domestic rules.

5. The recognition of personal and family status created abroad other than by a foreign judgment: recognition of foreign public documents and of legal situations as such, between transnational continuity of personal and family relationships and preservation of the fundamental principles of the domestic legal system.

• 1.  (A) Gilles Cuniberti Conflict of Laws: A Comparative Approach Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK - Northampton, MA, USA, 2017 » Pagine/Capitoli: Parts I-VI (entire book)

Students regularly attending the course will be expected to study for the exam on the basis of the notes taken during the course and of the relevant materials (international conventions, EU and national legislation, case law and legal literature) posted by the lecturer on the webpage of the course. Students not attending the course will be expected to study on the textbook specified above, having care to consult the relevant international conventions and EU legislation, as cited in the textbook. For this purpose, they may avail themselves of the materials posted on the webpage by the course.

• The course will be delivered in classes (lezioni frontali). These will be supplemented by case studies (esercitazioni), based on cases decided mostly by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, or national courts, which will be posted on the webpage of the course. Special attention will be devoted to the discussion of cases, in order to allow students develop an ability to discuss competently in English issues related to the main topics forming the subject of the course, acquiring a good command of the relevant legal terminology as well as a deep understanding of the legal problems inherent in the field of the conflict of laws.

• The exams will take place in both written and oral form. Students regularly attending the course will have the opportunity of sitting for an intermediate written proof. Students having passed the said proof shall sit for the final exam only on the issues treated in the course after the intermediate proof. Written proofs held in presence will be based on open questions (themes) on the topics treated in the course (for students regularly attending the course) or included in the course syllabus (for students not attending the course). In case exams are held online, written proofs will be based on multiple-choice questions. The oral proof, which presupposes the passing of the written proof, may imply further questions on the topics dealt with in the course (for students having regularly attended) or contemplated in the course syllabus (for those not attending).

English

English