This book focuses on the protection of abducting mothers who have been subject to return proceedings under the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention and the Brussels IIa Regulation, in circumstances where the child abduction has been motivated by acts of domestic violence from the left-behind father. The utility of Regulation 606/2013 on mutual recognition of protection measures in civil matters and Directive 2011/99/EU on the European Protection Order, and how protection measures can be used to protect abducting mothers, are examined within this context. Both instruments allow cross-border circulation of protection measures but, so far, have not attracted much attention in practice. This book aims to fill that gap. Domestic Violence and Parental Child Abduction is the culmination of the POAM (Protection of Abducting Mothers in Return Proceedings) project, a collaborative research project conducted between 2019 and 2021. It presents and analyses the findings of the project and brings together contributions by the project partners, as well as by other renowned experts. The book also presents a Best Practice Guide developed for the application of Regulation 606/2013 and Directive 2011/99/EU in child abduction cases committed against the background of domestic violence. The book offers a unique perspective on the problem of international parental child abductions committed against the background of domestic violence. Given its practical focus, it will appeal not only to an academic audience but also to judges, legal practitioners and other professionals working in the area of parental child abduction.

The need to allow a change of legal sex/gender in certain cases is no longer disputed in most jurisdictions, and for European countries there is no question as to whether such a change should be allowed after the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Goodwin v. United Kingdom (Application no. 28957/95). The question has therefore shifted to what the requirements for such a change of the legal sex/gender should be. Many jurisdictions have legislated or developed an administrative approach to changing sex/gender, but the requirements differ significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, particularly with regard to age, nationality and marital status, as well as the medical and psychological requirements. The latter in some jurisdictions still include surgery and sterility as a precondition, thus potentially forcing the persons concerned to choose between the recognition of their sex/gender identity and their physical integrity.The book also examines questions that are thus far under-researched, namely what the full legal consequences of a change of legal sex/gender should be, for example with regard to existing legal relationships such as marriages and registered partnerships, but also concerning children and parentage.The Legal Status of Transsexual and Transgender Persons is the result of an international research project, including not only national reports from 14 European and non-European jurisdictions but also two chapters that look at legal sex/gender changes from a Christian perspective and one chapter from a medical-psychological perspective. The final comparative chapter compares and contrasts the different approaches and requirements and makes recommendations for best practice and law reform.

In 2007, the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs together with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), both based in Hamburg, decided to establish an annual lecture series, the "Hamburg Lectures on Maritime Affairs" - giving distinguished scholars and practitioners the opportunity to present and discuss recent developments in this field. The present volume - the third in the series - collects the lectures held between 2011 and 2013 inter alia by Andrew Dickinson, Yvonne Marie Dutton, Bevan Marten, Andreas Maurer, Irini Papanicolopulu, aslav Pejovic, Juan L. Pulido, Andres Recalde Castells, Thomas J. Schoenbaum and Rudiger Wolfrum."

In 2007, the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs together with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), both based in Hamburg, decided to establish an annual lecture series, the "Hamburg Lectures on Maritime Affairs" - giving distinguished scholars and practitioners the opportunity to present and discuss recent developments in this field. The present volume - the second in the series - collects eight of the lectures held in 2009 and 2010 by David Joseph Attard, Lucius Caflisch, Beate Czerwenka, Lars Gorton, Francesco Munari, Kyriaki Noussia, Peter Wetterstein and Wolfgang Wurmnest.

The Legal Status of Intersex Persons provides a basis for discussion regarding all legal aspects concerning persons born with sex characteristics that do not belong strictly to male or female categories, or that belong to both at the same time. It contains contributions from medical, psychological and theological perspectives, as well as national legal perspectives from Germany, Australia, India, the Netherlands, Columbia, Sweden, France and the USA. It explores international human rights aspects of intersex legal recognition and also features chapters on private international law and legal history.The book is a timely one. Until very recently, the legal gender of a person both at birth and later in life in virtually all jurisdictions had to be recorded as either male or female; the laws simply did not allow any other option, and, in many cases, changing the recorded gender was difficult or impossible. However, there are many cases where this gender binary is unable to capture the reality of a persons physical presentation and/or perception of self. Consequently, this gender binary is increasingly being challenged and several jurisdictions have begun to reform their gender status laws.For example, in 2013 Germany became the first Western jurisdiction in modern times to introduce legislation allowing a person's gender to be recorded as 'indeterminate' at birth and thus give them a legal gender status other than male or female for all intents and purposes. However, this legislation has proved problematic in many ways and rightly was subject to pertinent criticism. In 2017 the German Constitutional Court then held that these rules were in violation of the German constitution as they only allowed a non-recognition, as opposed to a positive recognition of a gender other than male or female, and mandated law reform. Similarly, the Austria Constitutional Court held in June 2018 that current civil status laws had to be interpreted to allow registration of alternative gender identities. Therefore, two European jurisdictions will now have legal gender recognition beyond the binary.This book looks at law reform taking place around the world, with diverse perspectives from relevant fields, to provide the reader with a comprehensive analysis of the legal status of intersex persons and related issues.

Several Member States of the European Union have concluded treaties and conventions with Third States dealing with questions of succession law in cross-border matters. Some of these treaties originate from the beginning of the 20th century and are outdated. The European legislator, however, cannot supersede these treaties and conventions unilaterally with its regulations, in fact they enjoy priority over the European Succession Regulation. The harmonizing effect of European private international law is hence endangered, the more so, as these treaties and conventions often cover large groups of third State nationals in the respective Member State. This book analyzes the background, scope and practical impact of bilateral treaties and multilateral conventions concluded by selected Member States of the European Union with third States, both from the European and the third State perspective. It evaluates the impact of these treaties and conventions on the functioning of the European Succession Regulation and the possibilities to facilitate the interplay between these instruments and European private international law.

Vor den deutschen Zivilgerichten klagen zunehmend Spieler, die vor der weiteren Liberalisierung des Glücksspielrechts im Jahr 2021 an Glücksspielen im Internet teilgenommen haben. Sie fordern von Unternehmen, die solche Glücksspiele anbieten, die Rückzahlung geleisteter Spieleinsätze. Diese so genannten "Spielerklagen" waren bisher unterschiedlich erfolgreich. Die deutschen Gerichte sind sich zwar weitgehend einig, dass die Spielverträge wegen Verstoßes gegen die bisherigen Glücksspielstaatsverträge nach § 134 BGB unwirksam sind, obwohl die Glücksspielaufsicht bewusst das bisherige Glücksspielverbot im Internet nicht durchgesetzt hat. Vielmehr hat die staatliche Aufsicht Verstöße der Unternehmen geduldet, wenn sich die Unternehmen an bestimmte Vorgaben der Behörden halten, um zu verhindern, dass Spieler auf ein gänzlich unreguliertes Angebot ausweichen. Uneinigkeit besteht aber, ob etwaige bereicherungsrechtliche Ansprüche nach § 817 Satz 2 BGB gesperrt sind. Dagegen haben die Gerichte deliktische Schadensersatzansprüche der Spieler bisher nur vereinzelt bejaht. Auch die Verjährung etwaiger Ansprüche wirft Fragen auf. Zu diesen privatrechtlichen Aspekten der Spielerklagen, die bisher noch nicht umfassend diskutiert wurden, nehmen die Beiträge dieses Bandes Stellung.