The Hague Jurisdiction Project – what options for The Hague Conference?

Abstract

After the adoption of the 2019 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, the Hague Conference on Private International Law faces the question which methods should be employed to address matters relating to international direct jurisdiction in an efficient and politically feasible way. This paper will argue that the harmonization of international direct jurisdiction via a model law would not be conducive to foster legal certainty and predictability. Instead, the creation of a binding Protocol to the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention should be considered, unifying a core set of rules of international direct jurisdiction. In this way, the mixed-convention concept as developed by Arthur von Mehren in the 1990s in the context of the original Judgments Project would finally come to fruition. As the paper will demonstrate, this concept has the capacity to foster legal certainty and predictability, while being politically feasible.