Dr Rufat Babayev

I joined the School of Law in January 2013. Prior to the appointment at Leicester I worked as a Lecturer and Tutor at Durham University and as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire. I completed my PhD at Durham University where I was awarded with a Doctoral Fellowship. I also hold an LLB from Baku State University (Baku), an MA from Central European University (Budapest), and an LLM from Leiden University (Leiden).

My research broadly lies at the intersection of Competition Law, EU Law, Contract Law, and Human Rights Law. The common thread that runs through my research over the past decade is the focus on the constitutional role of traditional private law principles. My research engages with theoretical and philosophical perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of these principles as a legal concept and the different forms of its manifestation and limitation across different legal and non-legal disciplines. 

I am also interested in the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence exlored through the lens of tranditional legal fields, such as Contract Law and Maritime Law. 

My research interest also extent to exploring issues related to labour migration. In 2019 I completed an empirical research project which funded by the British Academy Small Research Grant scheme looked into the status of EU nationals' welfare entitlements in the UK in the pre- and post-Brexit legal and political landscape.

Books

Private Autonomy in EU Internal Market Law: Parameters of its Protection and Limitation (Oxford: Hart 2024).

Chapters in edited collections

“Navigating Waters and Algorithms: Lessons from Ships in Developing a Liability Regime for AI Robots” in CE Tømte, A Ruser & J Trondal, Digital Transformation(s): Social and Ethical Consequences of Rapid Technological Change, Edward Elgar 2025 (forthcoming).

Articles (selected)

‘Ubi Naves Autonomae, Ibi Ius? Legal Personhood and AI-Operated Ships’, IURA & Legal Systems Journal 2025 (forthcoming).

 

‘Market Access Constitutionalism Through the Lens of Fundamental Economic Rights’.15 European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2024 (forthcoming).

‘Setting the Boundaries of Residence Status of Jobseekers: Case C-710/19 G.M.A. v État belge, 29 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 2022, 286-297.

‘Duality of Economic Freedom Protection in the Interplay of Article 16 CFR and Article 102 TFEU’, 45(5) European Law Review 2020, 693-711.

‘A Blurred Piece of Jigsaw: on the Status of Jobseekers within the Framework of Directive 2004/38’, 22 European Journal of Migration and Law 2020, 467–492.

‘Re-shaping the Paradigm of Social solidarity in the EU: on the UK’s Welfare Reforms and pre- and post-EU Referendum Developments’, 18 European Journal of Social Security 2016, 356-379.

‘Private Autonomy at Union level: on Article 16 CFREU and Free Movement Rights’, 52 (4) Common Market Law Review 2016, 979-1006.

‘Contractual Discretion and the Limits of Free Movement Law’, 23 European Review of Private Law 2015, 875–897.

‘Equal Treatment on Grounds of Movement and Union Choice-of-law Rules under Article 81 TFEU’, 19 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 2012, 63-83.

‘Exploring the Fate of the Lex Loci Laboris Rule and its Exclusive Effect under Regulation 883/2004: Case C-352/06 Bosmann [2008] ECR I-03827’, 1 European Journal of Social Law 2011, 76-88.

Company, Commercial and Financial law

• Competition Law
• Contract Law (Human Rights aspects)

European Law and Policy

• EU Law (Internal Market Law, Constitution Law)
• Human Rights

Human Rights

• Economic Rights

International Law

• Conflict of Laws (Contractual and Non-contractual obligations)
• Law of the Sea
• International Trade

Private Law

• Contract Law (Human Rights aspects)

AI Law

Competition Law, Contract Law, European Union Law and Dissertation

European Union Law

Funding 

British Academy Small Research Grant

Research project: EU migrants’ rights, UK’s welfare reforms and Brexit’

Duration: Sep 2017 - Aug 2019

Awarded amount: £7018

 

Leicester University College Research Development Fund

Research project: Pandemic-induced homeworking and the transformation of the legal concept of ‘home’ in the UK and US (interviews in New York)

Duration: June-August 2022

Awarded amount: £2196

Personal awards

Grant for Advanced Training - Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (Nov 2012)

Doctoral Fellowship Award - Durham University (Oct 2007- Oct 2010)

KICA Grant - Korea International Cooperation Agency - for the researchplacement at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (June - August2008)

LUF Scholarship - Leiden University Fund - for the LLM programme at LeidenUniversity (Aug 2006 - Aug 2007)

CEU Fellowship - Central European University - for the MA programme atCentral European University (June 2005 - June 2006)

Guest speaker papers

‘Protection of Individual Economic Freedom as a Human Right in the EU Internal Market’ – Conference: The Protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the ‘Age of Exits’: Challenges and Perspectives organised by Hague University of Applied Science (Hague, 10 November 2019).

 

‘Fundamental Economic Rights and the Treaty’s Free Movement/Competition Regime’ -Centre for European Law and Internationalisation, Leicester Law School (Leicester, 7 November 2018).

 

‘Waiting for Brexit’: Status of Jobseekers during the Transition and Beyond’ – Workshop: ‘Waiting for Brexit: Open Issues in the Internal Market and in the AFSJ’ held at the University of Milan-Bicocca (Milan, 19 October 2018).

‘EU Workers and Jobseekers in the UK’ - 2015 EISS Conference “Migration and Social Assistance” held at Vienna University of Economics and Business (Vienna, 10 September 2015).

 

Conference papers (selected)

‘Brexit, Transition and the Acquired Rights of Union Citizens’ - IVR World Congress 2019 held at the University of Lucerne (Lucerne, 8 July 2019).

‘EU Jobseekers in the UK: Pre-Brexit and its aftermath’ – Conference: ‘The Future of European Law & Policy VI’ organised by the University of Birmingham (Birmingham, 28-29 June 2018).

‘Changing Social Solidarity at EU level in pre-and post the Brexit Vote’ - 2018 ECSA-C Biennial Conference held at York University (Toronto, 9-11 May 2018).

‘UK Welfare Reforms and the Rights of EU Citizens Residing in the UK’ - Conference: ‘Citizenship and New Types of Personal Status: International and European Aspects, and National Developments’ organised by Salerno University (Salerno, 18-19 January 2018).

‘Impact of Brexit on the EU’s Model of Social Solidarity’ - Conference: ‘Freedom Under Pressure’ organised by Ghent University (Ghent, 7-9 December 2017).

‘EU Citizenship and Associated Welfare Rights in the Post-Brexit Political and Legal Environment’ - 2017 EUSA International Biennial Conference (Miami, 4-6 May 2017).

‘Private Autonomy in the EU Internal Market’ - UK IVR Annual Conference ‘Public/Private: Unlocking the Boundaries of Legal Thought’ held at Queen’s University Belfast (Belfast, 23-24 October 2015).

‘Manifestation of individual autonomy: Article 16 of the EU Charter and Free Movement of Law’ - Critical Legal Conference 2015: ‘Law, Space and the Political’ held at the University of Wroclaw (Wroclaw, 3-5 September 2015).

‘Freedom of Contract and Free Movement Law’ - UACES 45th Annual Conference held at the University of Deusto (Bilbao, 7-9 September 2015).