The conflict of conflict rules – the relationship between European regulations on private international law and Estonian legal assistance treaties concluded with third states

Abstract:

The purpose of the dissertation is to answer the question to which extent are European private international law regulations compatible with the broad legal assistance treaties that the Republic of Estonia concluded with the Russian Federation and Ukraine before joining the European Union. Both types of instruments deal with the questions how to determine international jurisdiction in civil cases, which law is applicable in Estonian courts, what are the conditions for recognizing and enforcing foreign judgments and other enforcement titles in Estonia and how to cooperate with the authorities of foreign states while solving civil cases. At the same time, besides the national code of civil procedure, both types of legal acts are the instruments most often used in Estonian courts when solving international civil disputes.

Although the legal assistance treaties concluded with third states before the Republic of Estonia joined the EU enjoy the priority of application over the EU regulations in Estonian courts, the conflicts between the two types of private international law rules occur and result in different nationals being treated differently in Estonian courts. This kind of result is not something that the European instruments or the treaties would seek to ensure. The dissertation maps possible conflicts between the two types of instruments and, by using the methods of modern private international law, offers solutions how to avoid such conflicts in order to equally treat various nationals in Estonian courts when solving civil cases.

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