This manual aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of private international law and to complement the authors' textbook. It is primarily intended for students, but it can also enlighten any legal professional by providing guidance in the analysis and development of their unique reasoning in private international law, through specific examples from everyday practice. After many years of teaching the subject, we are convinced that theory development must be accompanied by its practical application, especially in the highly technical and complex field that we serve, which has characteristics that are not found in other branches of law.

The Practical Issues include analyses of the cases contained in the authors' textbook on private international law, as well as more complex practical exercises that require the thinking necessary for their understanding and the solutions proposed by the authors, supplemented by a small number of commented court decisions. It was not deemed necessary to provide basic bibliography, as it is already included in the Private International Law Handbook, nor basic case law references for the same reason.

As a rule, the consideration in a private dispute with elements of foreignness follows a specific sequence:

• Resolution of the issue of international jurisdiction
• Finding the applicable law
• Dealing with the recognition and enforcement of foreign decisions

Given the fact that each legal system has its own rules of private international law, the first concern of someone facing a relationship with elements of foreignness is to find the courts that have international jurisdiction to address the dispute. Therefore, Greek rules of private international law can only be applied if Greek courts have international jurisdiction over a specific dispute. For teaching purposes, it is assumed, unless otherwise indicated, that Greek courts have international jurisdiction. In order to find the appropriate conflict rule each time, the legal characterization of the incidents under consideration must first be made.

The analyses of hypothetical examples and practical exercises in this manual follow this line of reasoning.

The student-user of the Practical Issues should not forget two things: First, that the analyses and answers are, for teaching purposes, more detailed than those expected to be written in exams. Second, that the answers are based on the authors' opinions, but they are not always the only solution. The correct use of the mechanisms of private international law can lead to different solutions in several cases, as long as they have a solid legal basis.