Summary

Developments in technology, medicine, attitude and political agreements have resulted in changes in the rules of different legal systems that are also reflected in cases with foreign element. Since the national law of a country is the ultimately applicable law, the choice of law affects the resolution of specific cases. This article introduces developments in family law and EC law and their relations with private international law.
In the context of family law, the author addresses problems pertaining to filiation and the possibilities of marriage between persons of the same sex or of persons who have undergone a gender change, in the national law and consequently in private international law. The author also analyses the repercussions of such developments in the Estonian law and the draft Private International Law Act.
In the context of EC law, the author looks at contract law (the 1980 Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations) and civil procedure law (the 1968 Brussels Convention on jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters), mainly focusing on legislative developments. The author also gives a brief overview of the conventions.