The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law and University of Edinburgh Law School Present Private International Law Festival: The End of the Rule-Based International Order? Implications for Private International Law

On 24-25 September 2026, the University of Edinburgh Law School and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law will host the second Private International Law Festival in Edinburgh focusing on this topic. We want to combine different formats – paper presentations, discussion panels, workshops – to make progress on these questions: What impact do current geopolitical shifts have on private international law? Do they not matter because private international law can continue to maintain the fiction of being apolitical and merely technical? Are we seeing any shifts from a rule-based private international order? Or can private international law in an increasingly mercantile political economy pick up where public international law seems to be discarded?

We call for proposals: papers, panels, or any other format. Please be as precise as you can be, on format, substance and individuals involved. Fully-fledged theories are welcome, but so are mere ideas in need of development. Inventive new formats would be great, but traditional presentations will be valued as well. Junior researchers are particularly encouraged, but established academics and senior researchers are encouraged too. Maybe we manage to be festive after all, malgré tout!