Humanization of private international law: The search for conflict of law rules for two new areas: de facto partnerships and gender identity

This exploration covers both the cross-border de facto relationships of couples who are neither married nor registered, and gender identity (non-binary gender recognition), including transsexuality. Both questions have long been dealt with in several jurisdictions in substantive law in various forms by statute or case law. The substantive law regulations currently in place, however, are not yet in calm waters. The discussions on whether and how de facto unions should be regulated by statutory law as well as the many recent (draft) laws on self-determination regarding gender show that more changes in substantive law are to be expected. Hence, the debate on how the approach to private international law should be shaped is also ongoing.