Jurisdiction: a general overview
Lecture 2
Dr. NAGY, Csongor István, LL.M., Ph.D., S.J.D.
associate professor of law
University of Szeged (Hungary)
Agenda
 Brussels I Regulation
 Brussels II Regulation
 Maintenance Regulation
1. Brussels I Regulation
Scope of application
 Territorial scope: EU except Denmark
 Scope ratione materiae:
 civil and commercial matter,
 excluded matters: (a) the status or legal capacity of natural persons,
rights in property arising out of a matrimonial relationship, wills and
succession; (b) bankruptcy, proceedings relating to the winding-up
of insolvent companies or other legal persons, judicial
arrangements, compositions and analogous proceedings; (c) social
security; (d) arbitration.
 Scope ratione personae:
 if the defendant has his place of living or seat in the EU
 except Articles 22 (exclusive jurisdiction), 23 (prorogation of
jurisdiction)
Exorbitant bases of jurisdiction
 The Brussels I Regulation excludes exorbitant bases of jurisdiction.
 Jurisdiction based on presence
 Transient or Tag Jurisdiction
 Common law
 Jurisdiction based on the plaintiff’s nationality
 French Code Civil
 Art. 14: An alien, even if not residing in France, may be cited before
French courts for the performance of obligations contracted by him
in France with a French person; he may be called before the courts
of France for obligations contracted by him in a foreign country
towards French persons.
 Art. 15: French persons may be called before a court of France for
obligations contracted by them in a foreign country, even with an
alien.
 Jurisdiction based on presence of property
 Austrian, German and Hungarian law
 Umbrella jurisdiction
The architecture of the jurisdictional rules
 General jurisdiction
 Specific jurisdiction
 Special rule for contracts involving a weaker party (consumer,
insurance, employment contracts)
 Exclusive jurisdiction
 Prorogation of jurisdiction
 Jurisdiction based on appearance
General jurisdiction – Article 3
 Actor sequitur forum rei.
 This is not simply a general rule, it is one of the fundamental
value/principal of the Regulation.
„Persons domiciled in a Member State may be sued in the courts of
another Member State only by virtue of the rules set out in Sections
2 to 7 of this Chapter.”
 All the exceptions are to be interpreted in accordance with the purpose
that justified their inclusion in the system.
 The plaintiff’s identity is in itself not decisive.
Specific jurisdiction – Articles 5-7
 The reason of specific jurisdiction is that there is a close connection
between the matter and the forum in terms of procedural efficiency and
convenience.
 Examples include (select):
 Contracts
 Maintenance (now we have a new regulation: Maintenance
Regulation!)
 Torts (delictual liability)
 Civil claims in a criminal proceeding
 Disputes arising out of the operations of a branch, agency or other
establishment
 Joinder of actions
 In rem rights related to immovable property
Contracts – Article 5(1)
A person domiciled in a Member State may, in another Member State,
be sued:
1. (a) in matters relating to a contract, in the courts for the place of
performance of the obligation in question;
(b) for the purpose of this provision and unless otherwise agreed, the
place of performance of the obligation in question shall be:
- in the case of the sale of goods, the place in a Member State where,
under the contract, the goods were delivered or should have been
delivered,
- in the case of the provision of services, the place in a Member State
where, under the contract, the services were provided or should have
been provided,
(c) if subparagraph (b) does not apply then subparagraph (a) applies;
The bier-licence case
 An Austrian enterprise grants an exclusive license to a Hungarian
licensee to use the Austrian firm’s technology in the Czech Republic,
while the latter promises to transfer the license fee to the licensor’s
bank account in Vienna.
 The contract contains an exclusivity clause and the Austrian licensor,
breaching this clause, grants a concurring license to another company
in the Czech Republic.
 Which courts have jurisdiction if the Hungarian company requests the
judicial declaration of the breach of the contract?
 Which courts have jurisdiction if the Hungarian firm cancels the contract
and claims damages on the basis of contractual liability, or the payment
of liquidated damages if the contract provided so?
Torts/Delicts and other non-contractual obligations Art 5(3)
 Art 5(3)
A person domiciled in a Member State may, in another Member
State, be sued:
3. in matters relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict, in the courts for
the place where the harmful event occurred or may occur;
 Case: distance delict
 An Austrian company operates a plant in the near of Vienna, which
emits pollutants contaminating the water of the Danube.
 A Hungarian company operates a horticulture (a flower garden) in
Győr (Hungary) and irrigates the flowers with water from the
Danube. The flowers perish due to the contamination.
 How to apply Article 5 to the above fact pattern?
 Cf. 21/76 Bier BV v Mines de Potasse d’Alsace
Case analysis: consequential damages
 French parent sues German banks in France for cancelling a credit
contract (C-220/88 Dumez v Hessische Landesbank)
 Chain of causality: German banks cancel the credit contract → the
contractor of the real estate development project cancels the project →
sub-contractors (German companies) go bankrupt → their French
parent companies suffer a detriment due to their subsidiaries’
insolvency.
 Do French courts have jurisdiction?
Civil claims in a criminal procedure
 Article 5(4)
A person domiciled in a Member State may, in another Member
State, be sued:
4. as regards a civil claim for damages or restitution which is based
on an act giving rise to criminal proceedings, in the court seised of
those proceedings, to the extent that that court has jurisdiction
under its own law to entertain civil proceedings;
 The original court’s criminal jurisdiction cannot be revised in the
recognition/enforcement stage. (C-7/98 Krombach/Bamberski).
Libel/defamation cases
 The French actor Olivier Martinez and his father sue before the
Tribunal de grande instance de Paris (Paris Regional Court), asserting
interference with their private lives and infringement of the right of
Olivier Martinez to his image by reason of posting on the public website
www.sundaymirror.co.uk an English text (dated 3 February 2008)
entitled ‘Kylie Minogue is back with Olivier Martinez’. The text contains
the details of their meeting. (Joined Cases C-509/09 and C-161/10
eDate Advertising GmbH and Olivier Martinez)
 Do French courts have jurisdiction?
Joseph Weiler case
 Case No. 0718523043 Public Prosecutor v Weiler (Judgment of March
3, 2011) (Tribunal de Grand Instance de Paris)
 Prof Weiler (NY Univeristy) is the Editor in Chief of the European
Journal of International Law and its associated Book Review website
www.GlobalLawBooks.org, which are seated in NY (the website is
operated from a NY server). He refused to remove a book-review
written by a German scholar (Prof Weigend) about the book of an
Israeli scholar (Prof Calvo-Goller), who also had French citizenship.
Prof Calvo-Goller instituted a criminal proceeding in France against
Prof Weiler.
Joinder of actions
 Article 6(1)
A person domiciled in a Member State may also be sued:
1. where he is one of a number of defendants, in the courts for the
place where any one of them is domiciled, provided the claims are
so closely connected that it is expedient to hear and determine
them together to avoid the risk of irreconcilable judgments resulting
from separate proceedings;
2. Brussels II Regulation
Scope of application
 Applicable to matrimonial matters (divorce, legal separation or marriage
annulment) and parental responsibility.
 In matrimonial matters, the jurisdictional rules are exclusive only as to
EU-defendants.
Article 6
A spouse who:
(a) is habitually resident in the territory of a Member State; or
(b) is a national of a Member State, or, in the case of the United
Kingdom and Ireland, has his or her "domicile" in the territory of
one of the latter Member States,
may be sued in another Member State only in accordance with
Articles 3, 4 and 5.
Jurisdiction in matrimonial matters
 Article 3
 1. In matters relating to divorce, legal separation or marriage
annulment, jurisdiction shall lie with the courts of the Member State
 (a) in whose territory:
 - the spouses are habitually resident, or
 - the spouses were last habitually resident, insofar as one of them still
resides there, or
 - the respondent is habitually resident, or
 - in the event of a joint application, either of the spouses is habitually
resident, or
 - the applicant is habitually resident if he or she resided there for at
least a year immediately before the application was made, or
 - the applicant is habitually resident if he or she resided there for at
least six months immediately before the application was made and is
either a national of the Member State in question or, in the case of the
United Kingdom and Ireland, has his or her "domicile" there;
 (b) of the nationality of both spouses or, in the case of the United
Kingdom and Ireland, of the "domicile" of both spouses.
Parental responsibility
3. Maintenance Regulation
Scope and jurisdiction
 Territorial scope: EU, except Denmark
 Scope ratione materiae
Article 1
1. This Regulation shall apply to maintenance obligations arising
from a family relationship, parentage, marriage or affinity.
 Jurisdiction:
 habitual residence of the defendant;
 habitual residence of the maintenance creditor;
 if the maintenance matter is ancillary to a matter on personal status
or parental responsibility, except jurisdiction in the personal status
or parental responsibility matter is based solely on nationality;
 choice-of-court: the parties’ options are limited.
Thank You for your attention!
Dr. NAGY, Csongor István
associate professor of law
University of Szeged
E-mail: nagycs@juris.u-szeged.hu