There can be no doubt that both substantive family and succession law engage in significant interaction with private international law, and, in particular, the European Union instruments in the field. While it is to be expected that substantive law heavily influences private international law instruments, it is increasingly evident that this influence can also be exerted in the reverse direction. Given that the European Union has no legislative competence in the fields of family and succession law beyond cross-border issues, this influence is indirect and, as a consequence of this indirect nature, difficult to trace.This book brings together a range of views on the reciprocal influences of substantive and private international law in the fields of family and succession law. It outlines some key elements of this interplay in selected jurisdictions and provides a basis for discussion and future work on the reciprocal influences of domestic and European law. It is essential that the choices for and within certain European instruments are made consciously and knowingly. This book therefore aims to raise awareness that these reciprocal influences exist, to stimulate academic debate and to facilitate a more open debate between European institutions and national stakeholders.
Author Biography:
Dr Jens M. Scherpe, M.A. (Cantab), MJur (Oxon) is a Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Cambridge and Director of Cambridge Family Law (https://www.family.law.cam.ac.uk/). He is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College/ University of Hong Kong. He also is an Academic Door Tenant at the Barristers' chambers Queen Elizabeth Building (QEB) in London. He is Honorary Professor at the University of Aalborg (Denmark), Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa) and Cheng Yu Tung Visiting Professor in Law at the University of Hong Kong.In Cambridge Jens teaches comparative law and family law - and comparative family law. Before taking up his position in Cambridge, he was a Research Fellow and Head of the Department for the Law of the Nordic Countries at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. He has held visiting positions at a number of institutions, including the Australian National University/Canberra, the University of Sydney, the University of Auckland/New Zealand and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona/Spain. In addition he has lectured on a variety of subjects in numerous countries around the world, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Singapore, Mauritius and the People's Republic of China. Jens has published widely on a variety of topics. His major publications include several comparative family law studies. His PhD thesis on the out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes (2002) was awarded two prizes, the DIS-Frderpreis 2003/2004 by the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS) and the Otto-Hahn-Medal of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science for outstanding research achievements of young researchers (2002).Jens is the editor of the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family (IJLPF) and member of the international board of the "Zeitschrift fr das gesamte Familienrecht" (FamRZ). He is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law/Acadmie internationale de droit compare and a member of the Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung fr Familienrecht e.V. Elena Bargelli is currently Associate Professor of Private law at the University of Pisa, with tenure. From 2008 to 2009 she was Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung at Max Planck Institut fr auslndisches und internationales Privatrecht (Hamburg, Germany). From 2001 to 2006 she was lecturer of Private Law at the Faculty of Economics (Pisa). In 1999 she completed her PhD in Private Law at the University of Pisa. She was visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London UK (2011/2012), at the Yale Law School, New Haven, USA (2007), at Max Planck Institut fr auslndisches und internationales Privatrecht, Hamburg, Germany (2006, 2004).
