University of Asia and the Pacific

Conflict of Laws
Mid-Terms Exam

1. Define Private International Law (5 pts)

2. Differentiate Private International Law from Public International Law (10 pts)

3. Briefly describe the different traditional approaches to choice of law (10 pts)

4. Mr. A, a citizen of country X, died in the Philippines. Mr. A lived in the

Philippines for 34 years and was survived by his Filipino wife and children. He
left with him a will executed in the Philippines. The will states that he bequeaths
all of his property to Foundation X, a Philippine charitable foundation.

During the settlement of the estate of Mr. A, his wife and children are assailing
the validity of the will on the ground that the same violates their right to
legitimes.

Foundation X argues, however, that under Country A’s laws, there is no system
of legitime such that the disposition contained in the will of Mr. A is valid.

a. If you are counsel of Foundation X, what evidence will you present in

order to prove the law in Country X? (5 pts)

b. What law should be applied in determining the formal or extrinsic

validity of the will of Mr. A? Why? (5 pts)

c. What law should be applied in determining the validity of the

testamentary dispositions found in the will? Why? (10 pts)

d. If Country X’s laws state that the law of the domicile of a testator would
prevail as the personal law of its citizens, what law, based on
jurisprudence, should the court apply in deciding on the validity of the
testamentary dispositions of Mr. A? Why? (10 pts)

5. Mr. and Mrs. Dela Cruz contracted marriage in the Philippines in 1981. Both of
them were Filipino Citizens. However, the couple migrated to Country Y where
they begot their only child, Dale. Country Y is a country where citizenship is
acquired by jus solis, thus Dale acquired citizenship in Country Y.
Thereafter, in year 2000, Mr. and Mrs. Dela Cruz met an accident leaving Dale as
their only heir.

Being a teenager when his parents died, Dale was unable to take good care of the
properties and finances of the family. By the time he was 21 years old, he has
dissipated all the cash left to him in banks and was forced to begin liquidating
the real property assets of his parents.

During a party, Dale met George and his friend, the man with the yellow hat. He
discovered that George is Filipino and that George was interested in acquiring a
banana plantation in the Philippines. Dale eagerly offered one of his parents’
tracks of lands which he has inherited.

George, a risk-taker who is also awash in cash jumped at the opportunity and
immediately entered into a Deed of Absolute Sale with Dale the following day
after meeting him at the party. He paid for the lot in cash and asked the man
with the yellow hat to fly back to the Philippines with the documents in order to
transfer the property to George’s name.

Unfortunately, after going to the province where the property is located and
doing a title check and ocular inspection, the man with the yellow hat discovered
that ever since the year 2000, no real estate tax was paid for the parcel of land.
As such, the local government has already foreclosed the property and the
redemption period for its recovery has lapsed.

Aggrieved, George went back to Dale demanding that he return the money he
has paid to him including damages for all the expenses he incurred in having the
man with the yellow hat inspect the property.

Unfortunately, Dale has already squandered the cash and is unable to return the
same. However, he alleged good faith on his part as he was never made aware
of the fact that the parcel of land has already been foreclosed. Thus, according to
Dale the foreclosure was invalid.

a. If Dale is unable to return the money, as counsel for George, where will
you file the case for recovery of sum of money? What law should prevail?
Why? (10 pts)

b. The counsel of George filed a case to declare the foreclosure of the real
property void on the ground that Dale, the owner who was in Country Y,
was never notified of the said proceedings. Will the case prosper in court?
Why or why not? (10 pts)
 c. If the age of majority in Country Y is 23 years old, what arguments will
you raise to defend Dale? (5 pts)

6. Considering the turn in Dale’s financial fate, Dale decided to go to the

Philippines and tend the remaining properties left by his parents. In so doing, he
met Amelia and fell in love. They married and 5 years later, Dale decided to run
for public office in the province where the couple was residing.

Considering the popularity of Amelia’s family and the dela Cruz heritage, Dale
was able to win the election. Unfortunately, Farmer John, Dale’s losing opponent,
was not one to take defeat so easily. Thus, Farmer John began preparing his
disqualification complaint against Dale.

As counsel for Farmer John, what are the strongest arguments you can make
against Dale from the perspective of your expertise in private international law?
(10 points)

7. After the elections, police discovered voting machines in Dale and Amelia’s
house. An investigation was conducted, and the company that provided the
voting machines was investigated. The investigation report showed that the
voting machine provider, which was an Italian company based in Hong Kong,
contracted a German company to manufacture the voting machines. An English
shipper was tasked to bring the machines to the Philippines. However, while the
ship was sailing through the Sulu Sea, pirates boarded and stole a crate of voting
machines, which on comparing company records were the ones eventually found
in Dale and Amelia’s house.

However, none of the companies involved in the transaction reported the piracy.
Hence, Philippine authorities sued the Italian company before local courts for
violating their obligation to ensure the integrity of the voting machines, and for
not informing the election officers of the missing machines.

The Philippine court granted damages against the Italian company. For this
reason, the Italian Company is filing a third-party complaint against the English
shipper. As counsel for the Italian Company, in what country will you file the
complaint to recover said damages? Argue using choice of law principles.
(10 points)