scholarly journals Poligamia en Marruecos y pensión de viudedad en España. El Tribunal Supremo y el orden público internacional atenuado = Poligamy in Morocco and pension in Spain. The Spanish Supreme Court and the public policy exception

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 718
Author(s):  
María José Valverde Martínez ◽  
Javier Carrascosa González

  Resumen: El presente trabajo expone y analiza los criterios de solución empleados por el Tribunal Supremo para dar respuesta a la cuestión de saber si dos mujeres, viudas de un sujeto legalmente casado con ambas en Marruecos, pueden ser beneficiarias de la pensión de viudedad generada por dicho sujeto. El Tribunal Supremo acoge e implementa la tesis del orden público internacional atenuado. Lo hace al mar­gen de todo convenio internacional y de todo precepto legal porque entiende que el orden público atenuado protege los fundamentos jurídicos de la sociedad española y permite, al mismo tiempo, que un matrimonio legalmente celebrado en Marruecos, surta ciertos efectos legales en España. En particular, admite que ambas esposas puedan ser consideradas beneficiarias, a partes iguales, de la pensión de viudedad española.Palabras clave: orden público internacional, pensión de viudedad, poligamia, Derecho internacio­nal privadoAbstract: This paper deals with the criteria used by the Supreme Court of Spain in order to answer the question of whether two women, widows of the same husband, both legally married in Morocco, can be regarded as beneficiaries of the widow’s pension generated by their husband. The Supreme Court of Spain implements a mitigated public policy effect even though no international convention applies to the case. Once guaranteed that the legal foundations of Spanish society are safe, the Spanish Supreme Court activates an attenuated public policy to allow some legal effects of a marriage legally celebrated in Morocco. Among them, the court admits that both wives can be considered beneficiaries, in equal parts, of the Spanish widow’s pension.Keywords: public policy, widow’s pension, polygamy, private international law. 

Amicus Curiae ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-49
Author(s):  
Mary V. Newbury

Foreign act of state, the principle that a domestic court will not ‘sit in judgment’ over the acts of foreign countries, is coming under increasing scrutiny, as illustrated by the recent case of Belhaj v Straw (2017). This article traces the emergence of the principle out of traditional rules of private international law that, according to Belhaj, continue to constrain the doctrine. The essay provides a practical guide to the doctrine for use by other judges, who will usually come across act of state in the context of a motion to dismiss or to strike out pleadings. The author reviews five key cases which have considered whether a ‘unifying’ doctrine exists apart from choice of law rules of private international law; whether the principle is one of jurisdiction, non-justiciability, or something different; and the nature of the ‘public policy’ exception. She suggests that the ‘disaggregation’ of act of state into four ‘rules’ posited in Belhaj will remain the organizing framework of the doctrine in the medium term—despite Lord Sumption’s attempts to condense it into one or two rules. She suggests the Supreme Court is departing from the notion of act of state as a broad and inflexible principle of jurisdiction and from the notion that courts should use it in cases where requested by the government to avoid embarrassment to its foreign policy. The author disagrees with the observation, made in Yukos Capital SAR v Rosneft Oil Co (2012), that non-justiciability—the notion that certain issues are inappropriate for domestic courts to adjudicate—has ‘subsumed’ act of state. Rather, it is doubtful that non-justiciability should continue to be regarded as part of the law of act of state. Whether act of state is restricted to acts taking place within the territory of the foreign state, whether it applies to all types of whether it applies to lawful as well as unlawful executive actions, or to judicial acts, still remain uncertain. The greater significance of Belhaj is seen to lie in the Court’s adoption of the public policy exception to act of state in certain circumstances. Five of the seven judges agreed that UK courts should adapt to modern conditions in the form of rules of public policy that are ‘sufficiently fundamental’ to distinguish the conduct in question (in Belhaj, alleged complicity in acts of torture) from other violations of international conventions.


Author(s):  
V.C. Govindaraj

In deciding cases of private international law or conflict of laws, as it is widely known, judges of the Supreme Court in India generally consult the works of renowned English jurists like Dicey and Cheshire. This volume argues that our country should have its own system of resolving inter-territorial issues with cross-border implications. The author critically analyses cases covering areas such as the law of obligations, the law of persons, the law of property, foreign judgments, and foreign arbitral awards. The author provides his perspectives on the application of law in each case. The idea is to find out where the judges went wrong in deciding cases of private international law, so that corrective measures can be taken in future to resolve disputes involving complex, extra-territorial issues.


Author(s):  
Lucie Zavadilová

The unification of the conflict-of-law rules in matters of matrimonial property regimes at EU level seeks to mitigate differences in substantive law in particular legal systems. The aim of this contribution is to analyse the doctrine of overriding mandatory provisions and consider the applicability of the public policy exception, which limit the application of the law otherwise applicable determined in compliance with the unified conflict-of-law rules. The question author addresses in this paper is whether these institutes of the general part of private international law provide for sufficient safeguards to protect the fundamental values and public interests of the forum law in matters of matrimonial property regimes.


Author(s):  
Wendy A. Adams

SummaryThe distinction between formal and essential validity in Anglo-Canadian choice of law regarding marriage is an illogical bifurcation that unnecessarily invalidates same-sex relationships contracted in foreign jurisdictions. The Supreme Court of Canada has recently reformulated certain rules of private international law, taking into account both the constitutional and sub-constitutional imperatives inherent in a federal setting and the need for order and fairness when co-ordinating diversity in the face of increasing globalization. Reform of the choice of law rules regarding the validity of foreign marriages should proceed accordingly with the result being that a marriage valid where celebrated is valid everywhere. No principled reason exists to deny recognition to same-sex relationships validly contracted in other jurisdictions, nor to differentiate between the rights and obligations arising from the legal status of same-sex and different-sex relationships.


Author(s):  
V.C. Govindaraj

Conflict of Laws or Private International Law, as it is also known, is a tough branch of jurisprudence. Transactions across frontiers in the globalized village we live in are so frequent and so numerous that courts of law, and, in particular, the higher judiciary, namely the Supreme Court and the High Courts, are called upon to resolve them in order to render justice to the parties before them....


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
Luis A. López Zamora

 Resumen: El derecho del arbitraje internacional no es estrictamente internacional ni doméstico. A decir verdad, aquel cuerpo legal constituye un producto de la voluntad de las partes que han elegido resol­ver sus litigios mediante aquel tipo de mecanismo de solución de controversias. Ahora bien, aunque ello es así, dichas atribuciones presentan ciertos límites. Y es que, los laudos arbitrales internacionales formulados bajo aquellas libertades, son en estricto una forma de justicia privada y, como resultado de ello, los Estados en donde los mismos busquen ser ejecutados podrán rechazar su implementación en ciertas circunstancias. Una de aquellas circunstancias se produce cuando un laudo arbitral infringe el orden público (ordre public) del Estado donde éste busca ser ejecutado. Esta es una regla ampliamente reconocido, sin embargo, genera un problema. Y es que, la noción del orden público es contingente por naturaleza y, dado ello, ha sido nece­sario que su aplicación proceda solo en circunstancias excepcionales. Como resultado de esto, algunos aca­démicos y tribunales estatales han tratado de formular una noción del orden público de tipo internacional con el fin de establecer un contenido más restrictivo a aquella excepción. Sin embargo, esta terminología ha sido construida solo como una forma de identificar una sub-sección del orden público estatal. Esto lleva a ciertas preguntas: ¿Está el arbitraje internacional y, sus instituciones, circunscritas a elementos puramente domésticos? ¿Dónde queda la faceta internacional de los contratos de comercio internacional y de inver­siones si la excepción del orden público fuese a ser analizada desde un enfoque puramente estatal? Estas dudas han sido –tomadas en cuenta de alguna forma, en algunos sistemas legales, en donde el uso del orden público internacional ha sido estructurado en términos verdaderamente internacionales. Sin embargo, esto último también crea interrogantes a plantearse: ¿Qué implica hablar del orden público en el plano interna­cional? ¿Cuál es su contenido y, puede ser utilizado de forma práctica para excluir la ejecución de un laudo arbitral internacional? ¿Cuál es el rol del Derecho Internacional Público en todo esto? ¿Si el verdadero orden público internacional es utilizado, será aquel un punto de contacto entre el Derecho Internacional Público y el Derecho Internacional Privado? Estas y otras interrogantes serán tratadas en este espacio.Palabras clave: arbitraje internacional, orden público, orden público internacional, ejecución de laudos arbitrales, relación entre el derecho internacional público y el derecho internacional privado.Abstract: International arbitration is not domestic nor international in nature. In fact, the law appli­cable to that kind of proceedings can be considered a byproduct of the will of private parties. However, this wide attribution recognized to individuals have some limits. In this regard, it must be born in mind that arbitral awards represent a sort of private justice and, therefore, States requested to execute those kind of decisions can refuse their enforcement within their jurisdictions. One scenario that entails the non-enforcement of and arbitral award happens when the decision collides with the public policy (ordre public) of the State where is supposed to be implemented. This is widely recognized as a fundamental rule in international arbitration, nevertheless, a problem arises. The notion of public policy is contingent in nature and, because of that, it requires to be applied in very specific circumstances. That is why some academics and state tribunals have formulated the notion of international public policy as a term directed to narrow the content of that institution, but using to that end purely domestic legal content. In this sense, the term international public policy emerged as a merely sub-section of domestic public policy divested of any international meaning. In that context: ¿should international arbitration institutions (as the excep­tion of ordre public), be understood by purely domestic elements? ¿Where would be the international aspect of international commercial contract or investment if the exception of public policy is analyzed by purely domestic constructions? Those doubts have pushed in some systems, the formulation of in­ternational public policy in truly international terms. This is somehow welcomed, however, this usage creates additional doubts: ¿What does a public policy of the international realm entail? ¿What is its content and, can that be used in practical ways to exclude the enforcement of and international arbitral award? ¿What is the role of Public International Law in all of this? ¿If truly international public policy is used by domestic tribunals, would that be a point of connection between Public International Law and Private International Law? These and other questions will be entertained in this paper.Keywords: international arbitration, public policy, international public policy, enforcement of ar­bitral awards, public international law – private international law relationship.


Author(s):  
Gérard V. La Forest

SummaryThe rapid globalization that marks our era has resulted in increasing demands for the legal resolution of disputes arising out of interstate activities. National courts throughout the world have been significantly affected by this development. This article describes the recent expansion of the work of the Supreme Court of Canada in relation to transnational legal issues, including issues of public and private international law, human rights, admiralty law, and issues of private law having international ramifications. It traces the Court's evolving approach to international law issues and its willingness to reformulate its principles to meet modern conditions and to foster compliance with its norms. The more cosmopolitan attitude thereby generated has worked in concert with the Court's increasing willingness to rely on comparative law techniques in assuting in the resolution of issues of a localized character.


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