This article has been extracted from our "A
litigator's yearbook: 2019 (England and Wales)". If you
would like to read the full yearbook (which covers key developments
relating to a range of topics including jurisdiction, privilege,
contract law, settlement and various aspects of court procedure),
it is available on our
Litigation Notes blog.
The most significant question in the area of conflicts of laws
over the past year has been the continuing uncertainty over Brexit
and how it will affect jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments as
between the UK and the EU27. (It is clear that Brexit will have
little impact as regards choice of law.)
What happens next will of course depend to a large extent on the
outcome of the general election later this week. If the UK leaves
the EU on 31 January 2020 on the terms of the draft withdrawal agreement dated 19 October
2019, the current rules on both jurisdiction and enforcement
will apply where proceedings are commenced
