From Standards to Rules in Private International Law?

Linda Silberman, Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law Emerita at NYU School of Law and TLB Advisor, has recently posted to SSRN a number of her lectures from her summer 2021 Hague Academy General Course in Private International Law. The series of lectures, entitled The Counter-Revolution in Private International Law in the United States: From Standards to Rules?, traces the shift in the U.S. approach to private international law away from multifactor balancing tests and towards systems of rules. The emphasis, however, is on the question mark: the lectures explore a general trend while also noting exceptions and lingering questions.

The lectures are geared towards a non-expert audience and thus provide helpful overviews of the topics for those new to the U.S. approach to private international law. Topics include:

• Choice of Law for Torts and Contracts
• S. Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Country Judgments
• Extraterritorial Reach of U.S. Statutes
• Adjudicatory Comity: Forum Non Conveniens, Lis Pendens, and International Abstention