Jonathan Schenk has been a PhD researcher at the University of Antwerp’s Law Faculty since 2019.
After working as a teaching and research assistant for prof. dr. N. Carette in property law (2019-2020) and prof. dr. J. Meeusen in EU law (2020-2021), Jonathan was granted a fellowship from the Research Foundation Flanders (“Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek — FWO”) in 2021. His PhD research, which is described more in detail below, focuses on the cross-border sale of tangible movable goods (e.g., machines) between European businesses.
In 2020, Jonathan was given the opportunity to become member of the Working Group on International Property Law of the European Association of Private International Law, which aims to draft a proposal for a European regulation on international property law. In addition, he joined the team responsible for the “Recent Publications” section in the SEW Journal (“Tijdschrift voor Europees en economisch recht”) in 2021.
Jonathan obtained his Bachelor of Laws (2014-2017) and Master of Laws (2017-2019) at the University of Antwerp and attended a summer school at the University of Oxford (2017). Before studying law, he worked in real estate after having obtained a Bachelor of Real Estate at Artesis University College Antwerp (2009-2012) and a Real Estate Expert Certificate at Syntra (2013-2016).
Jonathan’s PhD research, titled “A choice of law rule for the proprietary aspects of B2B transactions as a step further in the EU harmonisation process”, concerns the cross-border sale of tangible movable goods (e.g. machines) between European businesses. More specifically, Jonathan examines how the transfer of ownership in these movable goods, and in addition, the transfer of ownership under a “retention of title clause” (a clause due to which the seller remains owner of the goods until the buyer has paid the purchase price) can be guaranteed as much as possible. By doing so, Jonathan aims to contribute to tackling several market flaws the European Internal Market is facing today, such as the loss of security ownership, a constraint on the provision of credit, and legal uncertainty.
To that end, Jonathan explores to what extent the EU has competence to adopt a uniform choice of law rule for these particular sale transactions (inter alia by looking into several legal competence provisions such as Article 81 and Article 114 TFEU, and the impact of Article 345 TFEU) and how this rule should be designed. A key element in this regard is whether, from an EU law perspective, the location (“situs”) of goods, which is accepted worldwide as the traditional connecting factor to determine the applicable law (“lex rei sitae”) to the property regime of movable goods, can/should be maintained as connecting factor. Are there other viable alternatives? Party autonomy and linking-up with the applicable law to the sale contract, which is the cause of the transfer of ownership, are two of many options that will be explored.
Areas of Expertise:
- EU Law
- EU Constitutional Law
- EU Private International Law
- Property Law
- European Property Law
Selected Publications:
- Schenk, J. (2022) Bomen zijn géén onroerende goederen : het debuut van ‘vervroegde roerendmaking’ in het Europees IPR na ShareWood.
- Schenk, J. (2021) Het begrip ‘zakelijk recht’ in het Europese IPR na Ellmes Property Services: van de Oostenrijkse regen in de Luxemburgse drup?
- Schenk, J. (2020) De valkuilen van een onlineaankoop bij Uncle Sam en Auntie Asia.
Full Publication List: repository.uantwerpen.be/acadbib/irua/19672/N
Selected Projects:
- 2019 - 2023 - A choice of law rule for the proprietary aspects of B2B transactions as a step further in the EU harmonisation process.