The Private International Law Department provides academic education and performs research in the field of private international law.

Just published: Nederlands internationaal privaatrecht Special issue: Private international law and finance

On 30 June 2016, Eesa Fredericks is expected to defend his Ph.D.-thesis ‘Contractual Capacity in Private International Law’ in Leiden. Supervisors are prof. Sierd J. Schaafsma (Leiden) and prof. Jan Neels (Johannesburg).

How do we incorporate and embed rules and principles that enter the private law system?

A publication on the location of financial losses and the validity of jurisdiction clauses after the CJEU’s Kolassa v Barclays Bank and Profit Investment v Ossi judgments.

The Institute of Private Law was closely involved in the development of Nieuw Burgerlijk Wetboek (the Civil Code of the Netherlands, which came about between 1948 and 1992). It has continued to fulfil this socially engaged role over the years. It also made a significant contribution to the development…

On 30 June 2016, Eesa Fredericks is expected to defend his Ph.D.-thesis ‘Contractual Capacity in Private International Law’ in Leiden. Supervisors are prof. Sierd J. Schaafsma (Leiden) and prof. Jan Neels (Johannesburg).

The Institute of Private Law is part of the Leiden Law School.

On 9 September 2020, Ruben de Graaff defended his thesis 'Concurrence in European Private Law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.G. Castermans and Prof. S.C.G. Van den Bogaert.

Ekaterina Pannebakker has joined the section Private International Law as lecturer in September 2016. Ekaterina graduated in French law and Russian law (2004 and 2009, private law) and obtained a postgraduate LL.M. at Erasmus University Rotterdam (2011).

On Wednesday 13 December 2017 René Hage defended his doctoral thesis entitled ‘Handhaving van privaatrecht door toezichthouders’ (Enforcement of private law by regulatory authorities).

Cathalijne van der Plas will become Professor of Private International Law (0.4 fte) at Leiden University as of 1 October 2021. She succeeds Prof. Sierd Schaafsma who has become a judge at the Supreme Court as of 1 May 2021.

How should jurisdictions, both on the national and on the supra-national level, handle the interaction between public and private law where it regards the regulation of financial markets?

Just published: United in incoherence – Private law concepts under pressure from European financial law (in Dutch), in: Tijdschift voor privaatrecht 2017-4

Amy Strecker assesses the institutional framework for landscape protection, analyses the interplay between landscape and human rights, and links the etymology and theory of landscape with its articulation in law.

This book is the first to incorporate current academic literature and case law on European, transnational, and international media law into a comprehensive overview intended primarily for students.

How do commissions of inquiry operating in conflict situations utilize international law, and how can inquiry findings be utilized by other bodies belonging to the international legal community?

The Department of Civil Law is responsible for education and research in the field of civil law. We teach the master’s degree programme Civiel Recht (Civil Law LL.M.), attracting many students each year from Leiden and elsewhere.

This PhD dissertation examines international responsibility for the crime of aggression from a public international law perspective. Under customary international law, as well as the amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court adopted in the Review Conference in Kampala in 2010,…

We would all like to live in a world in which individuals feel safe, conflicts are resolved peacefully and the interests of future generations are taken into consideration. At Leiden University legal scholars investigate to what extent public international law meets the needs of a globalised society.…

Loopholes in international tax legislation contribute to the misuse of tax rules by multinationals. Leiden University legal experts investigate how the complex national and international tax rules can be made more consistent in order to create a better tax system.

In addition to the walk-in tours at the visitor center, we also offer private tours for groups. These tours delve deeper into the history of the building, but also offer the opportunity to learn more about astronomy in general.

The international legal order is in a process of transformation. But how transforms globalization the international legal order? This research programme provides a clearer framework to analyze this..

Leiden University’s Master of International Civil and Commercial Law (L.L.M.) examines the interrelated layers of hard law, soft law, and relevant case law.

On 19 September 2019, Lynette Janssen defended her thesis 'EU Bank Resolution Framework: A comparative study on the relation with national private law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof.mr. W.A.K. Rank and prof. M. Haentjens.

The institute offers private Arabic tutoring to the general public, taught by the NVIC staff teachers. We offer classes in both Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, on all levels.

The Dutch Council of Ministers has approved the appointment of a Vice President and of three justices, including Professor Sierd Schaafsma, in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.

A Small Private Online Course (SPOC) is an online academic subject for a limited group of participants.

The International Air Law Moot Court Competition is a unique opportunity for students seeking to gain experience in the development of arguments in the field of international law and international air law, while also establishing contacts around the world.

Public International Law is a one-year Master’s specialisation at the internationally acclaimed Leiden Law School at Leiden University. The programme focuses on the legal framework that governs international relations in an increasingly complex global society.

How can international investment law and arbitration take account of the public interest in, and more broadly, the public dimension of, the relations between foreign investors and host States ?

This programme video is presented in Dutch

This edited publication aims at reflecting on the future of discussions on the applicability of international law to States’ use of ICTs in the context of highly politicised discussions at the multilateral level and offering practical suggestions for the European Union to pursue its objectives in this…

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the international law applicable to cyber operations, including a systematic examination of attribution, lawfulness and remedies. It demonstrates the importance of countermeasures as a form of remedies and also shows the limits of international law, highlighting…

Are you thinking about studying Public International Law? Learn more and watch the videos.

This article on private active cyber defense by Dennis Broeders is part of a special issue of the Journal of Cybersecurity, based on a selection of contributions taken from the 2019 Conference on Cyber Norms organized by The Hague Program for Cyber Norms.

Are UN sanctions regimes in need of further formalization in terms of substantive design, procedural architecture and with a view to regulating and governing the interplay with other regimes?

On 17 October 2018, Henriëtte Weststrate defended her doctoral thesis 'De Notaris en Private Rechtspraak'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof.dr. H.J. van der Herik and Prof. mr. G.J. Meijer.

Application online is now possible for the sixth edition of Leiden University’s Summer School on Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity in International Law The draft programme for the 2023 edition is now online. It includes expert speakers (from many continents, universities and organisations) who…