Sabine Corneloup
A. FIRST VIEW ON THE SUBJECT MATTER AND THE PURPOSE 0.01
B. LEGAL BASIS AND LEGISLATIVE HISTORY 0.06
C. SCOPE OF APPLICATION 0.11
1. Temporal scope 0.11
2. Personal scope 0.13
3. Material scope 0.14
a. Subject matter 0.14
b. Existence of a conflict of laws 0.16
D. LEGAL ENVIRONMENT 0.17
1. Other private international law instruments 0.18
2. EU constitutional law 0.21
E. BASIC PRINCIPLES AND UNDERLYING POLICY 0.29
1. Main rules 0.29
a. Overview 0.29
b. Choice of law 0.31
c. Law applicable in the absence of a choice 0.33
2. The underlying favor divortii 0.35
CHAPTER I: SCOPE, RELATION WITH REGULATION (EC) No 2201/2003, DEFINITIONS AND UNIVERSAL APPLICATION
Susanne Lilian Gössl and Jinske Verhellen
A. GENERAL 1.01
B. REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICATION: ARTICLE 1(1) 1.02
1. Divorce and legal separation 1.03
a. Does divorce include the dissolution of registered partnerships? 1.06
b. Does the dissolution of a same-sex marriage fall within the scope of Rome III? 1.07
c. Does ‘divorce’ include a private divorce? 1.09
2. Situations involving a conflict of laws 1.16
C. Exclusions: ArtICLE 1(2) 1.18
1. Preliminary questions 1.20
a. Legal capacity of natural persons 1.20
b. Existence, validity or recognition of marriage 1.22
c. Annulment of marriage 1.24
2. Related matters 1.26
Article 2 Relation with Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003
Sabine Corneloup
A. PURPOSE 2.01
B. INDEPENDENT APPLICATION OF THE TWO REGULATIONS 2.04
C. INTERPRETATION OF COMMON EUROPEAN-AUTONOMOUS NOTIONS 2.06
D. EFFECTS OF THE COMBINED APPLICATION OF REGULATIONS ROME III AND BRUSSELS II BIS 2.09
Petra Hammje
A. The concept of ‘participating Member State’ 3.02
1. Founder ‘participating Member State’ 3.03
2. Future ‘participating Member State’ 3.08
B. THE CONCEPT OF ‘COURT’ 3.09
1. The principle of an extensive concept of ‘court’ 3.10
2. The exclusion of certain forms of divorce 3.11
a. Religious divorces 3.12
b. Private divorces 3.14
C. The concepts not defined by article 3 3.19
1. Definition by reference to national law of Member States: the concept of ‘marriage’ 3.20
a. The possible inclusion of same-sex marriages 3.21
b. The exclusion of registered partnerships 3.24
2. Autonomous jurisdictional interpretation: the connecting factors 3.27
a. The concept of ‘habitual residence’ 3.28
b. The remedy to multiple nationalities situations 3.30
Article 4 Universal application
Fabienne Jault-Seseke
A. INTRODUCTION 4.01
B. CONTENT 4.05
C. ASSESSMENT 4.09
CHAPTER II: UNIFORM RULES ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO DIVORCE AND LEGAL SEPARATION
Article 5 Choice of applicable law by the parties
Cristina González Beilfuss
A. PARTY AUTONOMY: RATIONALE 5.01
B. INFORMED CHOICE 5.11
C. PARAGRAPH 1: MODALITIES OF CHOICE 5.15
D. PARAGRAPH 1: LEGAL SYSTEMS THAT CAN BE CHOSEN 5.19
1. Law of a State 5.21
2. Habitual residence 5.25
3. Nationality 5.35
4. The law of the forum 5.40
E. PARAGRAPH 2: MOMENT IN TIME AT WHICH THE CHOICE OF THE APPLICABLE LAW IS POSSIBLE 5.44
F. PARAGRAPH 2: MODIFICATION OF CHOICE OF LAW AGREEMENTS 5.48
G. PARAGRAPH 3: PROCEDURAL CHOICE OF THE APPLICABLE LAW 5.50
Article 6 Consent and material validity
Natalie Joubert
A. GENERALITIES 6.01
B. PRINCIPLE: ARTICLE 6(1) 6.05
1. Purpose of the rule 6.05
2. Scope of the rule 6.07
a. Concepts 6.07
b. Excluded issues 6.09
C. EXCEPTION: ARTICLE 6(2) 6.13
1. Purpose of the rule 6.13
2. Conditions of application 6.19
a. Date of referral to the court 6.19
b. Habitual residence 6.20
c. Procedural implementation 6.21
d. Reasonableness 6.22
Alexandre Boiché
A. THE BASIC FORMAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE REGULATION 7.01
B. ADDITIONAL FORMAL REQUIREMENTS IMPOSED BY THE STATE OF DRAFTING OF THE DEED 7.03
C. THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE FORM OF THE ACT 7.06
Article 8 Applicable law in the absence of a choice by the parties
Pietro Franzina
A. OBJECT AND PURPOSE 8.01
B. OVERALL DESIGN AND RATIONALE 8.02
C. THE CONNECTING FACTORS IN DETAIL 8.11
1. The current habitual residence of the spouses 8.11
a. General remarks 8.12
b. The notion of habitual residence and its assessment 8.16
2. The last habitual residence of the spouses 8.25
3. The common nationality of the spouses 8.30
a. Assessing the spouses’ nationality for conflict of laws purposes 8.31
b. Persons possessing two or more nationalities 8.33
c. Stateless persons and refugees 8.39
4. The forum 8.41
Article 9 Conversion of legal separation into divorce
Laura Carpaneto
A. NATURE, STRUCTURE AND PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 9 9.01
B. SEPARATION, RECOGNITION AND CONVERSION 9.12
C. FIRST CONFLICT OF LAWS RULE: OPTIO LEGIS 9.22
D. SECOND CONFLICT OF LAWS RULE: THE LAW OF SEPARATION 9.33
E. THIRD RESIDUAL CONFLICT OF LAWS RULE: THE APPLICABLE LAW UNDER ARTICLE 8 9.37
F. CLOSING CLAUSE 9.44
G. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE RULES OF THE BRUSSELS II BIS REGULATION AND OF THE OTHER REGULATIONS IN FAMILY MATTERS 9.47
H. ARTICLE 9 IN FUTURE PERSPECTIVE 9.49
Article 10 Application of the law of the forum
Bettina Heiderhoff
A. OBJECTIVE AND OVERVIEW 10.01
B. ARTICLE 10 FIRST ALTERNATIVE – EXCLUSION OF DIVORCE 10.05
1. General thoughts 10.05
2. Legal separation 10.06
3. Extension of Article 10 first alternative 10.08
a. General restriction to absolute impediments 10.08
b. Treatment of ‘limping’ marriages 10.10
c. Treatment of same-sex or interfaith (mixed religion) marriages 10.13
C. DISCRIMINATION (ARTICLE 10, VAR. 2) 10.14
1. Problem 10.14
2. Examples 10.16
3. Preferable approach 10.18
D. PRACTICAL USE OF ARTICLE 10 10.24
E. CONSEQUENCES OF THE DIVORCE 10.27
F. OUT OF COURT DIVORCES 10.28
Article 11 Exclusion of renvoi
Stefano Dominelli
A. RENVOI: ISSUES AND NATIONAL DIVERGING APPROACHES 11.01
B. RENVOI UNDER EU AND TREATY-BASED CONFLICT OF LAWS RULES 11.06
C. RENVOI AND ARTICLE 11 ROME III REGULATION: A BALANCING OF DIFFERENT INTERESTS AT STAKE 11.09
1. Exclusion of renvoi and party autonomy 11.13
2. Exclusion of renvoi to another State absent a choice of law 11.15
3. Exclusion of ‘remission to the law of the forum’ as well? 11.19
D. MANDATORY NATURE OF ARTICLE 11 ROME III REGULATION 11.22
E. APPLICATION OF SUBSTANTIVE FOREIGN LAWS IN FORCE ONLY 11.25
Bettina Heiderhoff
A. OBJECTIVE AND OVERVIEW 12.01
B. CONTROL OF RESULTS 12.05
C. UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLIC POLICY CONCEPT 12.06
1. National law, EU law and public policy 12.06
a. Concept and national differences in divorce laws 12.06
b. Guidelines in EU law 12.08
2. Contents of public policy 12.09
a. Narrow concept and ECJ case law 12.09
b. Human rights as key factor 12.11
c. Intensity of connection as important factor 12.12
d. Examples 12.14
3. Comparison of results 12.19
D. LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF A PUBLIC POLICY VIOLATION 12.21
1. Practical remarks 12.21
a. Necessity of case-based assessment 12.21
b. Rejection ex officio and consequences of the rejection of the law designated by Articles 5 and 8 12.23
2. Necessity of preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU 12.26
E. THE RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN DIVORCES 12.28
Article 13 Differences in national law
Christelle Chalas
A. THE PROHIBITED DIVORCE 13.04
1. The ‘Maltese’ clause 13.05
2. The ‘Maltese’ clause outside Malta 13.09
B. THE INVALID MARRIAGE 13.10
1. The causes of invalidity 13.14
2. The source of invalidity 13.17
a. Reference to domestic law 13.18
b. Other sources of invalidity 13.24
3. The regime of Article 13 13.29
a. Discretionary decision of the judge 13.30
b. Procedural regime 13.32
4. The effects of Article 13 13.35
a. Refusal to grant the divorce 13.36
b. Need for forum necessitatis 13.39
5. No equivalent to Article 13 in other European Regulations 13.40
Article 14 States with two or more legal systems – territorial conflicts of laws
Caroline Sophie Rupp
A. INTRODUCTION 14.01
1. Overview 14.01
2. Placement and purpose 14.02
3. Development 14.04
4. Parallels in other EU Regulations 14.05
B. SCOPE 14.06
1. General remarks 14.06
2. ‘State’ 14.07
3. ‘System of law or set of rules’ 14.08
4. ‘Territorial unit’ 14.09
5. Examples 14.10
6. Relationship between Articles 14 and 15 14.12
C. THE PROVISION IN DETAIL 14.13
1. Overview 14.13
2. Article 14 lit. a) – ‘reference to the law of such State’ (General Rule) 14.15
3. Article 14 lit. b) – ‘reference to habitual residence in that State’ 14.18
a. Objective conflicts of laws rule 14.19
b. Choice of law 14.21
4. Art. 14 lit. c) – ‘reference to nationality’ 14.23
a. ‘Territorial unit designated by the law of that State’ 14.25
b. ‘Territorial unit chosen by the parties’ 14.27
c. ‘Territorial unit with which the spouse or spouses has or have the closest connection’ 14.32
Article 15 States with two or more legal systems – inter-personal conflicts of laws
Caroline Sophie Rupp
A. INTRODUCTION 15.01
1. Overview 15.01
2. Placement and purpose 15.02
3. Development 15.03
4. Parallels in other EU Regulations 15.04
B. SCOPE 15.05
1. General remarks 15.05
2. ‘State’ 15.06
3. ‘Systems of law or sets of rules’ 15.07
4. ‘Category of persons’ 15.08
5. Examples 15.09
6. Relationship between Articles 14 and 15 15.11
C. THE PROVISION IN DETAIL 15.13
1. Overview 15.13
2. Article 15 sentence 1 – ‘legal system determined by the rules in force in that State’ 15.16
3. Article 15 sentence 2 – ‘system of law or the set of rules with which the spouse or spouses has or have the closest connection’ 15.21
Article 16 Non-application of this Regulation to internal conflicts of laws
Caroline Sophie Rupp
A. INTRODUCTION 16.01
1. Overview 16.01
2. Placement and purpose 16.02
3. Development 16.03
4. Parallels in other EU Regulations 16.04
B. SCOPE 16.05
1. General remarks 16.05
2. ‘Participating Member State’ 16.06
3. ‘Systems of law or sets of rules’ 16.07
4. Examples 16.08
C. THE PROVISION IN DETAIL 16.09
1. ‘Shall not be required to apply this Regulation to conflicts of laws arising solely between such different systems of law or sets of rules’ 16.09
2. Practical application 16.14
Article 17 Information to be provided by participating Member States
Alexandre Boiché
A. THE INSTRUMENT OF THE EUROPEAN JUDICIAL NETWORK 17.01
B. DECLARATIONS AS TO THE ADDITIONAL FORMAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES RELATING TO THE CONVENTION ON THE CHOICE OF LAW APPLICABLE TO DIVORCE 17.02
C. DECLARATIONs AS TO THE POSSIBILITY OF DESIGNATING THE APPLICABLE LAW 17.03
Article 18 Transitional provisions
Cristina González Beilfuss
A. LEGAL DIVORCE AND SEPARATION PROCEEDINGS 18.04
B. AGREEMENTS ON THE LAW APPLICABLE TO DIVORCE OR LEGAL SEPARATION 18.08
1. Agreements concluded on and after 21 June 2012 18.09
2. Agreements concluded before 21 June 2012 18.10
Article 19 Relationship with existing international conventions
Thalia Kruger
A. CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS 19.01
1. ‘Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’ (TFEU) 19.01
2. ‘International conventions’ 19.02
3. ‘At the time when this Regulation is adopted’ 19.03
4. ‘The decision pursuant to the second or third subparagraph of Article 331(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’ 19.05
5. ‘Take precedence’ 19.06
6. ‘Conventions concluded exclusively between two or more of them’ 19.07
7. ‘Matters governed by this Regulation’ 19.08
B. DISCONNECTION CLAUSES 19.09
C. EXISTING CONVENTIONS 19.12
D. FUTURE CONVENTIONS 19.15
Sabine Corneloup
Article 21 Entry into force and date of application
Sabine Corneloup
