Private International Law 2200-1K013

Private international law (Polish international private law, French droit international privé, German Internationales Privatrecht) in the strict sense means the branch of law which serves to delimitating the spheres of application (competences) of legal systems regulating relations in the field of private law - civil and commercial. Within this meaning, it is also alternatively called the 'law of conflict of laws' (Polish prawo kolizyjne, French droit de conflit des lois, German Kollisionsrecht). The need for its existence results from the fundamental equality of all legal orders of the modern world states, which means that none of these laws is a priori "better" than others and each of them can potentially be applied to a given legal relationship before a court, as long as relationship in a sufficiently close relationship.

Private international law in the narrow sense described above consists of conflict-of-law rules designating the law applicable to various private-law relationships through connecting factors, i.e. special criteria relating to attributes or factual circumstances of a personal or objective nature, or the ones based on the will of the parties (choice of applicable law by the parties, otherwise called the "subjective connecting factor"). Therefore, the role of private international law in the strict sense is not to directly regulate the rights and obligations of the parties to a given relationship, which is brought only by appropriate substantive law rules-primarily those belonging to the designated legal system. Bilateral conflict-of-law rules may designate as applicable both the law in force in the seat of the seized court (in Latin: lex fori) or a foreign law. Unilateral conflict-of-law rules, which are exceptional in Polish conflict of law, designate only the own law of the court seized with the case.

In the broader sense of the word, private international law also includes the norms of substantive law established for situations with a foreign element. First of all, the matter is about the provisions of international conventions that directly regulate cross-border private-law relations. Examples include the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) or the Convention on the Contract for International Carriage by Road (CMR); numerous conventions regulate intellectual property law as well as family law relations (especially international adoption).

The provisions establishing the substantive legal regime for private-law cross-border relations are often referred to shortly as the 'uniform law'. Insofar as that they pertain to commercial relations, we are talking about the so-called international trade law.

During the lecture on private international law, students will learn the basics of the Polish private international law in the narrow sense, viz. the conflict of laws. Basically, uniform law, as the subject of specific courses in modules of lecture blocks, shall not be discussed. There is also very limited information on the private international law of the European Union, which is a rapidly developing subdiscipline of conflict of laws and civil international procedural law.

In spite of being an uneasy field, private international law is practically very useful. It is difficult to imagine functioning in the legal market without at least elementary knowledge in this respect.