Intricacies Following the Provisions on the Law Applicable to Divorce in the New Romanian Civil Code

The entering into force of the new Civil Code brought along new provisions on the law applicable to a divorce with a foreign element. Although the lawmaker aimed at modern rules that are compatible with European Union Law, the new provisions engender some intricacies when tested in practice, departing, by their consequences, from the ideal goals of private international law. By using a real life situation, some drawbacks of the current provisions are identified, along with three legal safety nets that would allow the judge to remove the applicable law as determined by the rules on conflict-of-laws when some conditions are met, but these conditions are mostly represented by concepts with a variable content. These flexible concepts are the only escape gate in order to avoid applying a law that is not the best suited for a specific case, but their applicability depends a great deal on the subjective view of the court. Thus, a serious endeavour is needed in order to strike the right balance between the flexibility and the predictability of these law provisions.