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 taught EU Constitutional Law and EU Internal Market Law. I completed my PhD at Durham University where I was awarded with a Doctoral Fellowship. My doctorate examined the role of the EU principle of equal treatment on grounds of nationality and movement in determining the choice of the law governing cross-border contractual non-contractual and other civil law relationships in the European Union. 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 current research interests predominantly lie in the areas of: EU Law (Internal Market Social Security Immigration) Contract Law Private International Law I am particularly interested in the role of human rights norms in the economic construction of the EU internal market and possible implications of EU law in the traditional sphere of private law. I am also involved in exploring issues related to labour migration in the EU. 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

• 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)

"Contract Law European Union Law Dissertation"

European Union Law

"Protection of individual economic freedom as a human right in the EU internal market’ - ‘The Protection of Economic Social and Cultural Rights in the ‘Age of Exits’: Challenges and Perspectives’ (Hague University of Applied Science November 2019) ‘Brexit transition and the acquired rights of Union citizens’ - IVR World Con- gress 2019 (University of Lucern July 2019) ‘Waiting for Brexit’: Status of job-seekers during the transition and beyond’ - ‘Waiting for Brexit: open issues in the internal market and in the AFSJ’ (Universi- ty of Milan-Bicocca 19 October 2018) ‘EU Jobseekers in the UK: Pre-Brexit and its aftermath’ - ‘The Future of Eu- ropean Law & Policy VI’ (University of Birmingham 28-29 June 2018) ‘Changing social solidarity at EU level in pre- and post the Brexit vote’ - 2018 ECSA-C Biennial Conference (York University Toronto 9-11 May 2018) ‘UK Welfare Reforms and the rights of EU citizens residing in the UK’ -‘Citizen- ship and New Types of Personal Status: International and European Aspects and National Developments’ international conference (Salerno University 18-19 January 2018)