Private international law

Private international law is that part of the law of any State which comes into operation when a court is called upon to determine a suit containing a foreign element. Such a foreign element may exist, for instance, because a contract has been made or is to be performed in another State or because the recognition of a divorce obtained by persons domiciled abroad may arise. Because the courts of the other State may also be asked to exercise jurisdiction in the suit, or because the laws of that other State may be different to those of Ireland, in determining the proceedings before it, an Irish court may be confronted with a conflict of laws. Such conflicts are resolved by applying the rules of private international law.

To varying degrees the rules of private international law which have been developed in Ireland will be different to those developed in other States and indeed there are probably as many systems of private international law rules as there are States and therefore national legal systems.

The Hague Conference on Private International Law is an intergovernmental organisation based at The Hague which is charged with the progressive unification of the rules of private international law.

The Conference met for the first time in 1893 and became a permanent intergovernmental organisation in 1955. Since that time the Conference has adopted 35 Hague Conventions on matters ranging from the service of judicial documents and the taking of evidence abroad to child abduction and inter-country adoption.

Ireland has been an active member of the Conference since acceding to the Statute of the Hague Conference on 26 August 1955 and has supported the initiative of the Conference in seeking to expand the organisation's membership.

Pursuant to Article 6 of the Statute the Legal Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs has been designated as the National Organ in order to facilitate communication between Ireland, as a Member State of the Conference, and the Permanent Bureau. Pursuant to Article 9 of the Statute Ireland is represented at the Council of Diplomatic Representatives to the Conference by the Ambassador of Ireland at The Hague.

In addition to the Statute of the Hague Conference Ireland is a state party to six Conventions elaborated under the auspices of the Hague Conference.

Further information on the Hague Conventions.

The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) is an independent intergovernmental organisation with its headquarters in Rome. UNIDROIT was established in 1926 to examine ways of harmonising and coordinating the private law of States and to prepare gradually for the adoption by the various States of uniform rules of private law.

Further information on UNIDROIT.

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