Since the late 20th century there has been an increase migration in of people due to the development of new technologies, easier ways of travel and the opening of national borders. People travel abroad for jobs, studies, or exploring new countries. During these travels some of them find life partners abroad, settle down there, conclude marriages and establish families. It often happens that such marriages end in divorce. If children are born in such a wedlock questions arise as to who will take care of them, who will pay maintenance etc. In some cases a parent decides to solve a conflict situation in such a way that he/she moves with the child without consent of the other parent to another place within the country or he/she decides to move to another country, usually to the country of his/her origin. He/she wants to settle there with the child and to legalize staying there. Such removal where national borders are crossed is considered to be international child abduction. The basic document dealing with the issue of international child abductions is the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (hereinafter the Hague Convention) adopted on 25 October 1980 and currently acceded to by 87 states. The Hague Convention establishes rules according to which cases of...

This dissertation deals with one of the most significant concepts of contemporary private international law - the concept of habitual residence. The concept of habitual residence was introduced into the field of private international law within the context of the unification work of the Hague Conference of Private International Law in the interest of finding a compromise between the traditional connecting factors of domicile, dominant in the sphere of common law, and nationality, that is historically closely bound to continental legal systems. Thanks to the long and systematic unification work of the Hague Conference of Private International Law, the connecting factor of habitual residence has gained a permanent indisputable position in private international law. The concept of habitual residence has also forcefully made its way through into the rapidly developing sphere of European private international law. The European Union has followed in the footsteps of the Hague Conference of Private International Law: habitual residence is today the central, most frequently adopted connecting factor in the unified conflict-of-laws rules, that determine the applicable law, as well as in the rules that determine the jurisdiction of the forum. Building on the recent intense development in this field of...

This thesis explores the use of domicilium as a criterion in choice of law and jurisdiction in South African law with special reference to private-law status. In this area of the law adherence to the status theory has, in the recent past, resulted in the use of domicile as an exclusive ratio jurisdictionis. This has impacted negatively on choice of law issues in status matters: since domicile constituted the sole jurisdictional criterion, little attention was devoted to choice of law. Even though the lex domicilii was, in actual fact, applied to choice of law issues concerning private-law status, it happened only as a result of the assumption of jurisdiction by the forum domicilii. With the emergence of alternative jurisdictional criteria, such as ordinary residence, choice of law issues will have to be addressed from a conflict of laws perspective, since the jurisdictional criteria will no longer ensure the application of the appropriate lex causae. In this regard recognition of the functional diversification of jurisdictional and conflicts connecting factors is crucial: different principles and policies underlie the fields of jurisdiction and choice of law and this must be borne in mind when a connecting factor is selected. In view of the prominence of domicilium as a connecting factor, problem areas in regard to the interpretation and ascertainment of domicile, especially the domicile of choice, is investigated within the context of the Domicile Act 3 of 1992 and with a view to future reform. It is submitted that the subjective animus requirement for the acquisition of a domicile of choice remains uncertain and undefined. Since domicile constitutes such an important connecting factor in issues pertaining to private-law status, as well as other non-status matters, it is essential that it should be readily and easily ascertainable. In this regard certain concrete proposals for future reform are advanced. Ultimately the domicile of an individual should indicate the community to which he/she truly belongs: only then will domicile constitute a conflicts connecting factor which satisfies the demands of conflicts justice. / Private Law / LL. D. (Law)

El Expediente N° 183516-2008 versa sobre la materia de Restitución Internacional del Menor, esta se configura cuando en un primer momento, se genera un hecho de Sustracción Internacional del Menor, es decir, cuando un menor de edad, hasta los 16 años, es trasladado o retenido ilícitamente por uno de sus padres en un país distinto al de su residencia habitual. En ese sentido, con la finalidad de proteger al menor de edad, en el plano internacional, de los efectos perjudiciales que podría ocasionarle un traslado o una retención ilícita, y de establecer los procedimientos que permitan garantizar su restitución, así como de asegurar la protección del derecho de visita, es que el Perú se hace parte de la Convención de la Haya sobre los Aspectos Civiles de la Sustracción Internacional de Menores del 25 de octubre de 1980, que tiene como objeto asegurar la restitución inmediata de los niños, niñas o adolescentes, trasladados o retenidos ilícitamente en cualquiera de los países contratantes y que los derechos de custodia y de visita vigentes en dichos países sean respetados en los demás Estados contratantes, priorizando el principio rector del Interés Superior del Niño en cada proceso. / The file No. 183516-2008 deals with the matter of International Minor Restitution, this is configured when at first an act of International Child Abduction is generated, and that is when a minor, up to 16 years of age, is unlawfully transferred or detained by one of his parents in a different country than his habitual residence. In this sense, in order to protect the minor, at the international level, from the detrimental effects that an illegal transfer or retention could cause, and to establish the procedures that allow guaranteeing their return, as well as ensuring the protection of the access right, is that Peru becomes a member of the Hague Convention on the 1980 Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which aims to ensure the immediate restitution of children or adolescents, transferred or detained illegally in any of the contracting countries, and that the custody and access rights applicable in these countries were respected in all the contracting states, prioritizing the guiding principle of the best interests of the child in each process. / Trabajo de suficiencia profesional

Les situations familiales européennes correspondent aujourd’hui à une réalité incontestable qui se traduit, juridiquement, par l’émergence d’un véritable droit international privé européen de la famille, entendu comme l’ensemble des règles de conflit de juridictions et de conflit de lois prévues par l’Union européenne pour s’appliquer aux relations familiales européennes. Face à la nouveauté de la matière et les incertitudes de ses concepts constitutifs, il est nécessaire de procéder à l’analyse des fondements du droit international privé européen de la famille, afin de mieux comprendre la matière et d’être capable de la faire progresser. L’étude de ces fondements révèle la nécessité de l’élaboration d’un droit international privé européen de la famille qui mobilise toutes les méthodes du droit international privé, en les articulant efficacement autour du rôle central de la règle de conflit de lois, véritable pierre angulaire du système Le droit de l’Union est actuellement loin d’un tel système d’ensemble. Il serait pourtant possible de surmonter la situation d’échec du droit de l’Union européenne par un droit international privé européen de la famille qui organise efficacement la pluralité des droits de la famille nationaux, tout en assurant l’effectivité des devoirs familiaux. Pour cela, le droit international privé européen doit intégrer la nécessité du respect des ordres juridiques nationaux et efficacement la mettre en oeuvre par un système de droit international privé articulé autour d’une règle de conflit de lois conçue de façon à tenir compte de l’irréductible dimension nationale du droit de la famille. L’Union européenne, tout en proposant un droit international privé respectueux du concept de pluriel universel, pourrait ainsi (re-)découvrir l’identité pluraliste de l’unité dans la diversité. Et elle pourrait par-là faire émerger progressivement l’identité d’un véritable citoyen européen, qui s’épanouit et s’identifie dans la diversité des droits nationaux et dans la coordination harmonieuse de cette diversité, de façon, non seulement, à ce que chaque droit de la famille national soit le résultat d’un processus démocratique auquel les citoyens directement intéressés participent activement, mais aussi et surtout de façon à ce que chaque Etat membre puisse continuer à défendre ses valeurs nationales essentielles dans le contexte du fédéralisme européen. / European families are nowadays an undeniable reality. This reality is taken into account through the emergence of a genuine European private international family law, understood as the set of rules of conflict of jurisdictions and conflict of laws provided by the European Union to apply to European family relationships. Given the novelty of the subject and the uncertainty of its constituent concepts, it is necessary to analyse the foundations of European private international family law, in order to be able to better understand it and to enhance its operation. The study ofthese foundations reveals the need to develop a European private international family law thatmobilizes all methods of private international law, effectively articulating them around the centralrole of the rule of conflict of laws, the real cornerstone of the system. The European Union is currently far from realising such a comprehensive and coherent system. Nonetheless it would be possible to overcome the failure of the current situation through the development of a European private international family law that effectively organises the plurality of national family rights,while ensuring the effectiveness of family duties. The European private international law should therefore incorporate the need to respect the national legal systems and effectively implement this respect through the elaboration of a system of private international law that is conceived around a rule of conflict of laws designed to take account of the inevitable national dimension of family law. The European Union, while offering a private international law respectful of the concept of a “plurieluniversel”, could hence (re-)discover the identity of the pluralistic unity in diversity. Thus, it could gradually let emerge the identity of a genuine European citizen, identifying herself and himself withthe diversity of national laws and the harmonious coordination of this diversity, not only in order to protect the fact that each national family law is the result of a democratic process in which citizens directly concerned can actively participate, but especially in order to guarantee that each Member State can continue to defend its national core values in the context of European federalism.

Nous sommes aujourd'hui face à un incontestable déclin du critère de la nationalité en droit international privé. À l'heure de la mobilité croissante des personnes et de l'essor des autres critères de rattachement, il nous faut faire le constat de la marginalisation de la nationalité, pourtant considérée pendant longtemps comme la principale notion en matière de statut personnel, une marginalisation confirmée par les règlements européens et la jurisprudence. Face aux changements dans ce domaine et aux incertitudes qui y sont liées, il est nécessaire d'analyser ces données afin de pouvoir procéder à un bilan et d'énoncer des résolutions pour l'avenir. En effet, l'évolution du droit international privé a conduit à privilégier de nouveaux critères de rattachement, considérés comme plus efficaces et moins discriminatoires que la nationalité, qui sont ainsi plébiscités par le législateur et les juges européens. Il s'agit tout d'abord des critères territorialistes, et particulièrement de la résidence habituelle qui est devenue le rattachement principal, pour la plupart des textes européens, en matière de divorce, de responsabilité parentale ou encore de régime des incapables. L'importance donnée aux individus, reconnus en tant que quasi-sujets de droit international, résultant de l'intervention des droits de l'homme, apparaît comme le principal facteur du déclin de la nationalité. Le principe de non-discrimination et la prise en compte de la volonté des parties, jusqu'à leur désunion et leurs successions, illustrent cet état de fait. Il s'agit alors de savoir, à la lumière des réflexions sur ces nouveaux paradigmes, s'il est encore possible de reconsidérer le rattachement des personnes en revalorisant le critère de la nationalité dans certains domaines, comme cela a été suggéré dernièrement en droit des successions. Nous proposons ainsi une méthodologie permettant aussi bien dans le conflit de lois que dans le conflit de juridictions de déterminer les raisons du déclin de la nationalité. Nous menons également une réflexion sur son irrévocabilité en droit international privé. / The decline of the nationality in private international law is nowadays an undeniable reality. The impact of an almost unconditional mobility of European citizens and the emergence of other connecting factors in the personal law result in the weakening of the nationality link, despite its historical role in determining the law applied to an individual. The weakening is confirmed by the modern European legislation and case law. This study seems essential to understand the foundations of nationality as the connecting factor and takes into account the important changes of the nationality and its uncertainty. Indeed, the evolution of the European private international law led to the switch of the connecting factor from nationality toward territorial nexuses. Particular significance is put on the nexus of habitual residence, which is considered to be more efficient and less discriminatory, and is retained by the main European regulations and judgments, not only in case of international divorces or parental authority, but also according to such matters as legal capacity. Furthermore, the superiority of human rights appears to be the essential reason for the acknowledgement of individuals as the quasi-subjects of international law, which resulted in the decline of nationality as a connecting factor. Consequently, the principles of non-discrimination and personal autonomy impact the further fields of personal law, e.g. disunion and heritage. In the light of these new paradigms, it should be questioned if it is possible to overcome the decadence of the nationality and authorize its part in some matters of the European private international law, as it was regulated in the new heritage European regulation. For these reasons, this study propose a methodology that determines the reasons of the fall of nationality as the nexus of the private international law, both in the conflict of laws and in the conflict of jurisdictions, and provides some reflections on its irreversibility.

The movement of people from county to country brought about an increase in international marriages. However, South African private international law rules with regard to the proprietary consequences of marriage are not on par with their foreign counterparts. The prejudicial rule which governs proprietary consequences of marriage has raised difficulties for our courts in past and recent cases. The advent of a new constitutional dispensation in South Africa forbids discrimination based on sex, gender and marital status. Furthermore, the question is asked whether parties to a marriage with a foreign matrimonial domicile may rely on section 7(3) of the Divorce Act 70 of 1979. The classification of redistribution orders in private international law matters has given rise to uncertainty. The objectives of the study are to suggest workable alternatives to the current connecting factor for proprietary consequences of marriage in South African private international law and to investigate the availability of redistribution orders to spouses applying for divorce in South Africa. / Private Law / LL. M.