English common law required that a tort action could be brought in England in respect of wrongs committed abroad only if the act complained of was wrong both in England and in the place where the wrong was committed. This rule has inhibited the English courts from exercising jurisdiction over, say, the infringement of a French patent even when the court had personal jurisdiction over the defendant since the infringement of a French patent was not a tort in England. This common law rule has now been abrogated for all actions, except defamation actions, by the Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995. The effect of this is that courts in the United Kingdom will now be able to exercise jurisdiction, inter alia, to the full extent permitted by the Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. This convention, which is effective between members of the EU, sets out as a basic rule that EU defendants should be sued in the country of their domicile unless some other jurisdiction is specifically permitted. In the case of actions for tort or delict, an additional possible forum is permitted, namely, the courts of the location where the harmful event occurred. The convention also gives all EU courts the right to grant provisional relief even if they would not otherwise have jurisdiction, this being the basis on which the Dutch courts have achieved fame by granting Europe-wide injunctions against patent infringement. The recent change to British law now opens the door to the possibility of British courts following in the steps of the Dutch courts.