Letters Blogatory congratulates the Hague Conference on Private International Law on its 125th anniversary! As Letters Blogatory readers know, the Hague Conference organizes diplomatic meetings and meetings of experts that lead to the promulgation of private international law conventions such as the Service and Evidence Conventions and many others. The Conference then monitors the operation of the conventions and periodically releases conclusions and recommendations on their operation. The Permanent Bureau of the Conference publishes helpful materials on the Conventions and assists states and the bar in other ways.

In 2018, the Hague Conference and what it stands for is more important than ever. If you consider John Bolton’s recent speech on the ICC, or more generally the strains and stresses today on the international system, I think it’s really important for the world to have a model of cooperation between states and even legal systems on private international law matters. The Hague Conventions allow states to cooperate in areas from civil procedure to family law to legalization of documents in ways that benefit everyday litigants and private citizens. Thank goodness there’s something in the world that still works to increase cooperation and harmonization between states for the benefit of their citizens. Congratulations to the Secretary-General and all the members of the Permanent Bureau on this anniversary.