The EU Civil Justice Framework and Private Law ‘Integration through (Private International) Law

Abstract

The diverse nature of substantive private law systems across Europe has amplified the development of an EU Civil Justice system based on harmonized EU private international law (PIL) mechanisms. The authors argue that the problems of jurisdiction, choice of law and recognition and enforcement of judgments will be recurrent for courts and litigants in a cross-border context, which may adversely affect the level of litigiousness. After analysing several types of PIL cases brought before the English courts, the authors make the case that there is a need for an appropriately conducted comparative study to collect empirical evidence which explains the cross-border litigation pattern and assesses the effectiveness of the EU PIL instruments. It is concluded that devising an appropriate institutional architecture for the interpretation and application of PIL legislative instruments is key to the creation of a genuine European area of justice as there cannot be rights without appropriate remedies.