Professor Paul Beaumont

Professor of Private International Law

Law Stirling

Professor Paul Beaumont

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About me

Professor Paul Beaumont FRSE Professor Beaumont moved to the University of Stirling in August 2019 to become Professor of Private International Law in the Law School from his personal chair at the University of Aberdeen School of Law that he had held since 1995. He was the Head of the School of Law at the University of Aberdeen between 2000 and 2008 (with a one year break for research leave) and was Head of the School of Law at the University of Stirling from November 2021 to December 2024.

Since 2009 Paul has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland’s National Academy). Paul is one of the editors of the Journal of Private International Law since its inception in 2005. He is the series editor for Hart Studies in Private International Law since its inception in 2008, which has published more than 35 Volumes to date. He is one of two authors of the Scottish Universities Law Institute book on Private International Law: Anton (3rd edn, 2011) and will be the general editor of the 4th edn, 2026.

He was a member of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH)’s Experts’ Group on Family Agreements from its inception in 2013 and the chair of the Group from 2015 until it completed its work in 2022 with the Council adopting the Practitioners Guide on Family Agreements involving Children. He is a member of the EU’s negotiating team in the HCCH Working Group on Jurisdiction which held its most recent meetings in September 2024 and February 2025.

He has negotiated the following instruments for the UK and Scottish Governments in the HCCH (Hague Statute 2005, Hague Maintenance Convention and Protocol 2007 and Hague Choice of Court Convention 2005) and in the European Union (Brussels I and Ia, Rome I and II, Maintenance and Succession Regulations). He was part of the EU delegation throughout the negotiations on the Hague Judgments Convention 2019 (between 2014 and 2019 - having represented the UK and Scottish Governments in HCCH on the failed original Judgments Convention negotiations between 1996 and 2001). He was a member of the Secretary General's Expert Group on the Revision of the Statute of the HCCH in the early 2000's and a member of the Drafting Committee for the Hague Choice of Court Convention 2005, the Hague Maintenance Convention 2007 and the Hague Judgments Convention 2019.

He has published several books on private international law, co-authored or co-edited, including The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction (Oxford University Press, 1999); Recovery of Maintenance in the EU and Worldwide (Hart, 2014); and Cross-Border Litigation in Europe (Hart, 2017). He and his wife, Dr Jayne Holliday, co-edited A Guide to Global Private International Law (Hart, 2022) and Paul co-authored 8 chapters in the book. He has published articles in the leading Journals in the field including two contributions to the Hague Academy Collected Courses; the Journal of Private International Law; the International and Comparative Law Quarterly; Rabel’s Zeitschrift; Revue critique de droit international privé; Netherlands International Law Review; Yearbook of Private International Law; European Law Review: Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law; NIPR; Spanish Yearbook of Private International Law; Edinburgh Law Review; Juridical Review; etc

Professor Beaumont has led a number of research projects funded by the EU, the AHRC and the Nuffield Foundation doing empirical, comparative and analytical work on maintenance, child abduction, Brexit, and on a broad range of EU private international law in the EUPILLAR project (Brussels 1a, Brussels IIa, Rome I, Rome II and Maintenance). His work has had an impact on the interpretation of international Conventions (eg the Hague Child Abduction Convention) and on the development of legislation (eg the Brussels IIb Regulation). His work has been cited by the US Supreme Court, the UK Supreme Court, the High Court of Australia and by the Inner House of the Court of Session.

All aspects of private international law globally, in the Commonwealth, in Europe, in the UK and in Scotland.

Award

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh
Elected to Scotland's National Academy in 2009. Have served as the Chair of the Law, Philosophy and Religion Panel of the RSE and as the Chair of the Brexit RSE Group looking at constitutional issues. Have given evidence to the Scottish Parliament on behalf of the RSE.

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