Dr. Clemens Trautmann honoured for his doctoral dissertation by the University of Hamburg Law Faculty
21.05.2010
On 5 May 2010 Dr. Clemens Trautmann, former Institute research fellow, was honoured by the University of Hamburg Law Faculty for his doctoral dissertation "Europäisches Kollisionsrecht und ausländisches Recht im nationalen Zivilverfahren" (European Private International Law and Foreign Law in National Civil Proceedings).Trautmann's work is of foundational importance for the unification of private international law in the European Union as well as the reception of foreign legal regimes by individual Member States. With the Europeanisation of private international law, the Union is pursuing the goal of having all legal disputes judged according to the same law regardless of the court's location. Whether this proves successful in practice depends on the national rules of procedure in respect of the determination and application of foreign law - rules which are hardly homogenous within the Member States. In his dissertation, Clemens Trautmann examines the procedural rules of the most significant European jurisdictions with regards to their compatibility with Union law and thereby proposes solutions in some of the more notable problem areas based on his comparative analysis.
The Law Faculty jury praised the dissertation as a classically framed work of exceptional quality which has lasting value in light of the depth of its analysis. Approximately 70 doctoral dissertations are completed each year at the Law Faculty of the University of Hamburg. This year, the Law Faculty Prize was conferred for the first time on three dissertations of outstanding merit.