The Center of Civil Law Studies of the LSU Law Center presents the
43rd John H. Tucker, jr. Lecture in Civil Law
Evolutions in European Family Law: Towards a Common Core
Given by Professor Frédérique Ferrand
University Jean Moulin – Lyon 3 – France,
University of Augsburg – Germany
Tuesday, February 6, 2024 at 12:40 p.m.
Louisiana State University, Law Center
McKernan Auditorium, W200
Reception to follow in the Entrance Hall
THE SPEAKER
Frédéri
que Ferrand is a full professor in the Faculty of Law at the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, France, where she has been teaching German law, European, Comparative and French civil procedure and enforcement law since 1990. She is the Director of the Institute of Comparative Law Édouard Lambert (IDCEL) which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2021. She has been Honorarprofessorin at the University of Augsburg, Germany, since 2001 where she teaches French family law, contract law, and tort law.
Professor Ferrand’s area of research are European, comparative, and French civil procedure and enforcement law as well as comparative family law. She is a founding member of the Commission on European Family Law (CEFL), which was established in 2001, and she is one of the seven members of its Organising Committee. The CEFL is a fully independent entity whose main goal is to launch pioneering work on the harmonization of family law in Europe through the drafting of European Principles of Family Law in several fields.
She has been a Visiting Professor at several universities, including Athens, Augsburg, Beijing, Humboldt (Berlin), Freiburg im Breisgau, Hamburg, Helsinki, Munich, Münster, Tokyo, and Turin.
She is a Titular Member of the International Academy of Comparative law and of the Société de Législation Comparée. She has participated in several international and European research programs (CEFL, ELI, UNIDROIT) and is a member of the editorial board or committee of several German and international law journals. She is the author of numerous publications.
THE LECTURE
“European family law” includes the national family laws of European States and designates the uniform family law provisions enacted by the European Union in the context of cross-border situations. Moreover, this area of the law is significantly influenced by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, which has triggered significant family law reforms in numerous member states of the Council of Europe. For a long time, it was mainly assumed that family law was so deeply rooted in national cultures and traditions that it would be impossible, first, to observe clear common tendencies between different jurisdictions, and second, to strive for and to reach a certain degree of harmonization. Is this still the case? Or can common tendencies be acknowledged in the family laws of the various European jurisdictions?
This lecture will present the current trends in European family law from two angles. First, with regard to the judicial cooperation in family matters within the European Union, its achievements and new projects. Second, from the main trends in the convergence of national European family laws in various fields such as divorce, as well as the continuing different approaches to certain sensitive issues.
