Private International Law in English Courts

The book describes, in a single volume, the rules and principles of private international law as applied in English courts in 2023. The radical nature and extent of the changes required by Brexit and its aftermath are considered; the book has been remodelled to reflect the changes and the uncertainties remaining in the law.

The first edition of this book offered a restatement of European and English Private International Law as it was applied in the English courts. The decision of the UK to withdraw from the EU, and of the EU to bar the UK from entry to the Lugano Convention, has meant that the broad structure of the book needed fundamental change to reflect the new - but in some ways, much more archaic - law. In working out and working through the complex consequences of the separation, it is apparent that the law has lost some of the coherence it had developed. Whether the rough edges of the new system can be smoothed, and how that can be achieved, is something which only time will tell. In this developing situation, this new edition endeavours to describe and explain how it all works (and sometimes does not work). The book provides critical analysis and guidance relevant both before and during litigation. Written by an academic and practising barrister with over 40 years of experience, this book offers an approach to private international law as it stands six years after the national referendum, in much the same way as the previous edition did with the hybrid system of English and European law before that event. Only by having understood the state, structure, and coherence of the law prior to Brexit, can one really comprehend the effect of the new legal reality.