030535 VO Private International Law in China (2015W)

Part I consists of three chapters which provides an introduction to the course without enmeshing students in details and complexities better provided in later parts.
Part II explores the historical development of Chinese Privare International Law. This part is important, insofar as modern Chinese private international law has been strongly influenced by its own history.
Part III turns to the “Subjects of Private International Law.” Under the Chinese scholarship, natural persons and legal persons are classified as “regular subjects,” while states and international organizations are classified as “exceptional subjects.” The first two chapters of this part lay out the nationality and domicile of natural persons and legal persons and the last chapter discusses the issues of states and international organizations as the subjects of private international law. China’s position and practice on the immunities of states and their property have also been thoroughly analyzed in chapter 3.
Part IV deals with “International Civil Jurisdiction.” As jurisdiction is usually the first issue that a court has to deal with when a dispute is submitted before it, this part examines the current Chinese legislation and judicial practice on international civil jurisdiction prior to the discussion of choice of law issues.
Part V spells out the “General Part of Conflicts Law,” which examines a number of conceptual issues recurring in discussions of choice-of-law problems such as characterization, renvoi, proof of foreign law, evasion of law and ordre public reservation.
Entitled “Selected Areas of Conflict Rules,” Part VI exposes students to the core set of issues needed to understand private international law. This part focuses on conflict rules that scatter through various Chinese laws, including new Conflict of Laws Act of 2010, whose balance will be devoted to a survey of selected areas of Chinese conflict rules, scrutinizing the relevant legislation as well as judicial practice and providing systematic comments. The conflict rules for capacity, contract, tort, family issues, succession and property are selected as the topics of discussion in this part. The highlighted areas are chosen partly for their importance in terms of their effect on the relationships between China and other states and between Chinese citizens and foreigners, and partly because of the lack of available materials other than these subjects.
Part VII is “Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments” which provides an overview of the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.
Part VIII, the closing one of the Course, is “The Latest Development of Chinese Private International Law. As its heading suggests, this part seeks to make an objective and comprehensive assessment of the latest development of private international law legislation in China. This part is the topic of the evening lecture.