Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Private International Law
Other languages of instruction: Catalan
Teaching staff
Introduction
The relations between people, corporate structures and peoples in general, in an interconnected world in all fields, is a reality that the formation of any jurist cannot ignore.
In an increasingly internationalized, more interrelated global context, business activities, investments and family ties among human beings are unaware of the notion of borders, leading to multiple relations of external legal traffic.
However, a jurisdictional and legislative disorder is visible when it comes to addressing legal realities related to the Law of People, Family, Obligations and Inheritance, when these disciplines are internationalized, when several national sovereignty collides.
And to resolve these issues, Private International Law appears and basically serves to determine the competent jurisdiction and the law applicable to internationalized legal problems, because they present some element of external legal traffic, connecting two or more legal systems; but also, in a broad sense, it deals with other issues, such as international judicial cooperation, restitution in cases of international child abduction, or even international arbitration.
Objectives
1. That the student could be in a position to analyze legal situations specific to Private International Law and to confront them using the criteria, concepts, tools and alternatives that this discipline facilitates. 2. Develop individual skills in the application of international treaties and community regulations and in the search and management of bibliographic and documentary sources. 3. That student could know and becomes familiar with terminology, concepts, and. in general, the methodology of Private International Law; and 4. Bring the student closer to international arbitration.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 05 - To be able to develop skills for group work
- 07 - To acquire negotiating and mediation skills
- 09 - To develop mechanisms that favour sensitivity towards issues related to fundamental rights as well as respect for other cultures and customs
- 11 - To acquire skills for autonomous learning
- 15 - To develop a perception of the united nature of the legal system and the required interdisciplinary vision for legal issues
- 24 - To acquire the skills to resolve problems and make decisions using relevant information and by applying correct methods while placing the issue within a legal system context
Learning outcomes of the subject
1. Know and understand the legal approach of Private International Law to cases of increasing internationalization of people's lives.
2. Have acquired skills and abilities to know and apply the plurality of their sources and the different regulatory techniques of Private International Law.
3. You will have developed skills and abilities to solve these assumptions by addressing your own problems: international judicial jurisdiction, the issue of applicable law, proof of foreign law and the recognition of sentences and other types of foreign acts, both in civil and civil matters.
4. Know and understand the issues of nationality and condition of the foreigner.
5. Have acquired skills for teamwork.
6. Have acquired skills for negotiation and mediation.
7. Be sensitive to promoting respect for other cultures and customs.
8. Have acquired sensitivity towards issues related to fundamental rights.
9. Will be able to search for information, interpret it and use it for the resolution of practical cases or the realization of works related to this matter.
10. Will be able to project the knowledge of this subject in the trial of subsumption related to practical cases.
11. Have acquired skills for autonomous learning.
Syllabus
PRELIMINARY ISSUES
Unit 1. Private international law: concept, object and function. Problems. Law origins. The Constitution and private international law. The preliminary title of the Civil Code.
Unit 2. Interregional law: criteria of the Spanish system. The civil neighborhood.
Unit 3. Nationality: concept. Its acquisition, loss and recovery in Spanish law. The problems of dual citizenship.
THE APPLICABLE LAW
Unit 4. Normative technique in private international law: conflict norms and material norms. The conflict rule: connection points, imperativity and alternatives. Spanish legislative panorama.
Unit 5. Problems in the application of the conflict rule: qualification and conflict of qualifications; fraud to international law; Forwarding and its grades. The mobile conflict Impossibility of application of foreign law (public order exception). Foreign law: allegation and evidence.
PEOPLE, FAMILY AND INHERITATIONS
Unit 6. The natural person: personal status. Capacity, disability, coming of age and emancipation. The protection of the elderly disabled.
Unit 7. International Family Law (I). Marriage, de facto couples and marriage crises.
Unit 8. International Family Law (II). Affiliation and adoption. Protection of minors: international child abduction. The food.
Unit 9. Legal persons and private international law. Special reference to capital companies and groups of companies.
Unit 10. Inheritations in Private International Law. The European inheritation certificate.
OBLIGATIONS, CONTRACTS AND REAL RIGHTS
Unit 11. Contractual obligations in Private International Law. The new Lex Mercatoria. The community regulation "Rome I". The international and consumer labor contract.
Unit 12. Non-contractual obligations in Private International Law. The community regulation Rome II.
Unit 13. Real rights and private international law. Intellectual and industrial property rights.
INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL COMPETITION, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, RECOGNITION AND FREE CIRCULATION OF FOREIGN DECISIONS
Unit 14. International judicial competence: concept and limits. The immunity of jurisdiction. Forums of international judicial competence. Main instruments and standards: Brussels I, II and II bis and the L.O.P.J. International judicial assistance
Unit 15. The recognition of foreign judicial decisions and acts of voluntary jurisdiction. The free movement of judicial decisions in the community. International treaties and the reciprocity system.
Unit 16. The form and the international Private Law: article 11 of the Civil Code. The foreign public document. Your access to public records. The European executive title.
THE ARBITRATION IN THE SOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES
Unit 17. International commercial arbitration: The autonomy of the will and the deactivation of state jurisdiction in commercial disputes. The arbitration agreement, the arbitrators and the execution of arbitration awards.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The subject will be taught through master classes in which the teacher will explain the contents of the subject, with special reference to positive law. Outstanding importance will be given to the practical aspects of each subject, so that the student becomes familiar with the application of the various concepts and methodology of private international law. The master classes will be combined with practices, so that the student can apply the knowledge acquired and thus reinforce the theoretical content.
| TRAINING ACTIVITY | COMPETENCES |
|---|---|
| Presentación en el aula de los conceptos y su aplicación práctica | 09 15 |
| Actividades en el aula para el seguimiento de los alumnos (individual y en grupo) | 24 |
| Estudio independiente del alumno | 11 |
| Estudio y trabajo en equipo | 05 07 |
| Tutorías | 11 |
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Final Exam: 40%. Must be succeed at least with 4/10.
Partial exam: 25%. Will be next october 25th.
Attendance and Participation: 10%.
Practical case: 25%. Will be next december 9th.
Bibliography and resources
- Alfonso-Luis Calvo Caravaca / Javier Carrascosa González, (dir.) Derecho Internacional Privado, vol. I y II, Comares, Granada (última edición).
- José Carlos Fernández Rozas / Sixto Sánchez Lorenzo. Derecho internacional privado. Thomson Reuters. Civitas (última edición).
- Carlos Esplugues Mota / José Luis Iglesias Buhigues. Derecho Internacional Privado. Tirant lo Blanch (6ª edición).
- Legislación básica de Derecho internacional privado (Tecnos, o cualquier otra editorial).