Encyclopedia of Private International Law

Encyclopedia of Private International Law

November 23, 2018

With the steady advance of globalisation, the practical significance of private international law has grown significantly. The array of private international law questions arising in disputes and court procedures stemming from cross-border private relations has become standard fare for legal practitioners. A corresponding increase can be seen in the number of legislative activities on the national, international and, most importantly, the European level. More and more countries are recognizing the importance of the legal field and new methods are emerging. To date, however, there has not been a contemporary and comprehensive survey of the discipline. With the Encyclopedia of Private International Law, there now exists a reference work that explores these developments not only thematically but also from a country-specific perspective. The result is a work unique in the globe’s literature on the subject.

The four-volume work has been edited by Jürgen Basedow (Emeritus Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law), Giesela Rühl (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena), Franco Ferrari (New York University School of Law) and Pedro de Miguel Asensio (Universidad Complutense Madrid).

The Encyclopedia provides an overview of the current state of legislation and court jurisprudence in more than 80 countries. It introduces the concepts, terminology and methodology associated with the field, and it recalls those scholars – such as the Institute’s founding Director, Ernst Rabel – who made important historical contributions to the field. With the effort, the editors hope to stimulate comparative and functional discourse about private international law and lay the foundation for further research.

Private international law in global and comparative perspective

The goal of the Encyclopedia is to make information on private international law more readily accessible. In many countries lawyers still know very little about the discipline. Moreover, what they know is usually confined to the law of their own jurisdiction even though international private relations require a broader knowledge that transgresses domestic boundaries. In a similar vein, academics very often focus on their own national legal system of private international law. Scholars thus frequently lack a global and comparative perspective.

The four volumes of the Encyclopedia

Volumes 1 and 2 contain 247 alphabetically sorted entries on private international law topics, taking into account recent developments on the national, European and international level. Volume 3 contains 80 national reports on private international law regimes of selected countries, these including countries whose PIL statutes have thus far received little academic attention. Finally, Volume 4 comprises English translations of the examined countries’ private international law instruments.

Numbering among the roughly 180 authors contributing to the Encyclopedia are numerous current and former researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law.

The Encyclopedia of Private International Law appears in both a print and an online version.

In April 2018, the American Society of International Law has awarded the Encyclopedia of Private International Law with the Certificate of Merit for High Technical Craftsmanship and Utility to Practicing Lawyers and Scholars. more

Jürgen Basedow, Gisela Rühl, Franco Ferrari, Pedro de Miguel Asensio (eds.), Encyclopedia of Private International Law, Elgar, Cheltenham 2017, 4033 pp.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781782547235

Entries from current Institute researchers

Access to entries authored by current Institute researchers is available via the links found below:

Jürgen Basedow
Aliens law (Condition des étrangers, Fremdenrecht)
Blocking statutes
Choice of law
Commercial agency, franchise and distribution contracts
Competition law (antitrust)
Escape clauses
Private international law, methods of
Rabel, Ernst
Vested rights theory

Duygu Damar
Flag
Transport law (uniform law)
Turkey

Samuel Fulli-Lemaire
Bartin, Étienne

Eugenia Kurzynsky-Singer
Commonwealth of Independent States and private international law

Jan D. Lüttringhaus
Antidiscrimination
Life insurance contracts
Reinsurance contracts
Substitution

Nadjma Yassari
Egypt
Iran

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