4 EKİM 2022

INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW I

I. PART
Aslında bu ders Türkçe olmalıydı çünkü International bir ders değil bu international denmesinin
sebebi yabancılık unsuru içermesidir yoksa International bir ders değil. Her ülkenin kendi yerel
milletlerarası özel hukuk sistemi var. Siz dönemliksiniz ama yıllık olunca konuyu şöyle
ayırıyoruz kanunlar ihtilafı ve vatandaşlık hukuku görüyoruz bu dönem, ikinci dönem de
milletlerarası usul hukukunu ve yabancılar hukukunu görüyoruz. Bu dönem İngilizceyle
götürebileceğimiz konular var ama 2. Dönem mesela yabancılar hukukunu ingilizce göremezsiniz
o tamamen kanun ve yönerge yani bildiğiniz mevzuat onları Türkçe götüreceğiz. Ama bu dönem
Kanunlar İhtilafı ve Vatandaşlık Hukuku’nu İngilizce işleyeceğiz. Şimdi bu ders geçen seneye
kadar online yürütülmüştü bu sene yüz yüze yapacağız dolayısıyla İngilizce anlatacağız ama
dersin sonu olabilir ders arası olabilir Türkçe olarak da tekrar edebiliriz önemli olan sizin konuyu
anlamanız ama sınavların İngilizce olması gerekiyor.
Şimdi bizim kitaplarımız Türkçe, evet dersimiz/sınavlarımız İngilizce tamam bu yüzden kendi
ders notlarınız yararlı olucaktır ama bu dersi öğrenmek için mutlaka bir Türkçe kitap da okuyun.
Milletlerarası Özel Hukukla ilgili yazılı kitaplar var. Bir tanesi bizim Marmara Hukuk’un,
basımlar gecikti 19 Ekimden sonra marketlerde yerini alıcak.
Milletlerarası Özel Hukuk Kitabı - Mustafa Erkan, Sibel Özel, Hatice Selin Pürselim,
Hüseyin Akif Karaca.
Milletlerarası Özel Hukuk Mevzuatı - Mustafa Erkan, Sibel Özel, Hatice Selin Pürselim.
Biz sınavlarda kanun açık yapıyoruz. Siz de isterseniz Türkçe kanun açabilirsiniz ama çok
ihtiyacınızı karşılamaz. İnternette bazı İngilizce çeviriler var en azından elinizin altında bulunsun.
Onun dışında biz başka kanunları inceleyeceğiniz o kanunların metinleri elinizin altında
bulunsun. Biz ezber yapmıyoruz, sınavda da olay sorulacak o olayı çözümlemeniz gerekiyor;
çözümlerken de kanun metinlerine(ama sadece kanun metinleri olsun üzerinde not vs
bulunmayacak şekilde) bakıp cevabı bulup yazabilirsiniz. Derslerimiz bu şekilde olucak,
anlamadığınız yerleri sorun dersi derste öğrenin. Türkçe kitap okuyun, İngilizce de okuyun
kavramlara aşina olmanız açısından yardımcı olacaktır.
Ö: Hocam sınavlara İngilizce kanun da getirebiliyor muyuz?
H: Getirin tabiki bence Türkçe de olsun. Önemli olan notlu, açıklamalı olmaması.
Ö: Çarşambaları bu ders Türkçe işlenecekmiş peki müfredat aynı mı?
H: Tabi aynı, hocalar da aynı. Belki işleniş biraz farklı olabilir biraz daha hızlı biraz daha yavaş
olabilir Ama girebiliyorsanız Türkçe derslere de girin. Ancak İngilizce yazmanızda hatalar
olması problem değil puan kırmayız.
Ö: Hocam bazı kısımları Türkçe anlatacağınızı söylemiştiniz, sınavda o kısımlar da mı İngilizce
olacak?
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H: Türkçe anlatığımız kısımlar için Türkçe soru, İngilizce anlattığımız kısımlar için İngilizce
olacak.
Okay, we can start with the name of this lesson: Private International Law
So we see word of ‘international’ but as I told you before there is nothing in private international
law, In International Law in other words Public International Law Do you remember what are the
subjects of public international law? -> States, mostly the states like Turkish Republic, German,
USA. Besides there are some international organizations like NATO or BM but not private
person, not private entities. But when it comes to Private International Law, subjects are
individuals, all private entities like companies, foundations. When we say that Private
International Law is not actually international law, it is actually internal law; the consequences of
these concept is that every state has their own private international law system. Turkey has its
own private international laws, USA has its own pil. So this is a internal law. This also is a bit
different from other branches of law; untill so far you studied substantial law like civil law,
commercial law and last year you studied procedural law. But here we will discuss which law is
applicable to the issue. Untill now we didn’t discuss it because we didnt need to discuss which
law is applicable to the issue you present. Let me give an example;
Turkish citizen Ayşe wants to get married with Turkish citizen Ahmet in Turkey so they gonna
marry. If they have obstacles like one of them 17 or one of them already got married, so which
law is applicable? We never ask this question because when Ayşe wants to get married with
Ahmet in Turkey, Turkish civil law will be apllied. But if we change the subject:
Example; Turkish citizen Ayşe wants to get marrried to German citizen Hans in Turkey. Do they
have any obstacles, do they have legal capacity to marry? We have different kind of questions.
But just now we have to ask ‘’Which law is applicable to their marriage Turkish law or German
law ?’’ Why? -> Because there is a foreign element here. First of all, we have to find out which
law is applicable to this issue and then we will answer other questions.
As you see, ıf we have any foreign element in our cases, private international law will be applied.
So that is the precondition for our branch. In other words, ıf there is no foreign element in issue,
we don’t deal with private international law. We will deal with other private laws like civil law,
commercial law. So, private international law comes in operation whenever the court faces with
the claim that contains foreign element.
So what are the FOREIGN ELEMENTS?
1. Nationality of the parties
I gave you an example. Ayşe gets married to Hans who is a German citizen. In this example, the
foreign element is one of the nationality of party. If someone who is not Turkish citizen, which
means he/she is foreigner, there is a foreign element.
2. Domicile (Yerleşim Yeri)
If someone’s domicile is not in Turkey, this is also foreign element. For ex: Two people may be
Turkish but their domicile may be lets say New York.
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3. Habitual Residence (Mutat Mesken)

Previously, only PIL were using this term but now Civil Procedure Law(HMK) is using as well.
Habitual residence is less demanding than domicile and the focus is more on past experience rather
than future intention. There is normally only one habitual residence where the individual usually
resides and routinely returns to after visiting other places. It is the geographical place considered
"home" for a reasonably significant period of time.

For ex: a Turkish citizen live and work in Germany and come to Turkey only just for summer.
Habitual residence is in Turkey or in Germany?
 Habitual residence means you live there, the center of the living, you work/study over
there, your children get help for healthcare and go to school there. So turkish citizen
working and living in Germany, according to Supreme Court(Yargıtay), his domicile may
be in German and Turkey. But habitual residence is a factual thing, it is not a legal term
like domicile. So his habitual residence is Germany. Becuse he lives there, he works
there. So habitual residence is easy to see and describe.
If we talk about domicile there could be some discussions; its meaning can be different in every
country because every country’s legal terms can be different. But it comes to habitual residence,
we can just look at some factual things like where he lives, where he earns money, where his
children go to school, build social connections etc. we look at factual things in order to describe
habitual residence.
For ex: 2 Turkish citizens who have habitual residence in Germany, had an traffic accident in
Turkey and one of them sue to get compensation. Judge have to check the cases; allthough this
traffic accident happened in Turkey, they live in Germany which means their habitual residence
is in a foreign country. This is a foreign element again we should ask which law is applicable.
So domicile is legal term. Your domicile can be in Turkey but you can go to work for 8 months to
Germany so your habitual residence will be in Germany. Everyone has just one domicile but your
habitual residence can be more than one.
These are the foreign elements regarding to parties.
What about transactions?
Assume that we entered a sale of contracts. Now just forget about parties. What could be as a
foreign element regarding to transactions? How can we establish a foreign element?
[If the company A seated in New York, make a contract with the company B which is seated in
İstanbul. Okay, there is a foreign element. Its is about parties as well.]
 If the contract is concluded in a foreign country eventhough parties are national, the place
of transaction is a foreign element.
H: What else could be foreign element regarding to transactions?
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Minority group of doctrin says that if parties of the contract choose foreign law as applicable law,
this is a foreign element as well. But manority group included me, we don’t agree with it. Foreign
element must be a priori in the transaction then parties allowed to choose a foreign law. Because
allowing parties to choose a foreign law is regulated in the book not in civil code. In the civil
code, you can choose the other party of contract, you can choose the subject (there is no numerus
clausus you can write terms of contract subject to some restrictions etc. but you can never allows
people to choose foreign law. In order to apply, your contract must contain foreign element. If we
won’t see any foreign element, we wont apply pil for conflict of law. Yani öncelik olarak foreign
element olucak ki foreign law seçebilelim.
 Another foreign element regarding to transactions is performing place of obligation in
foreign country. Edimlerden birinin ifa yeri yabancı bir ülke ise, o da yabancılık unsuru
içeriyor.
 Where tort is committed in foreign country eventhough the parties are Turkish, there is a
foreign element as well.
 Cross border of capitals, good or services are also foreign elements regarding to
transactions. Sınır ötesi mal, hizmet ve para akışının olduğu durumlarda da bir yabancılık
unsuru vardır. Ör: 2 tane Türk, sözleşme Türkiye’de yapılmış, her iki tarafın ifa yeri de
Türkiye ama bir tanesi ithal ettiği malı karşı tarafa satmışsa ya da bir taraf yurt dışından
kredi alarak o malı elde etmişse o takdirde de orada yabancılık unsuru vardır diyebiliriz.

II. PART
Conflict of Law Rules / Kanunlar İhtilafı Hukuku
Actually if all the substantial laws are the same, we wouldn’t be leading conflict of law system. It
wouldn’t be matter we apply law of A or law of B. All laws would be exactly the same. But that
is not true and real. There are different substantial laws. Even in the UN, there are different
substantial laws. So we need conflict of law rules. If we apply every case our own law, it wouldnt
be fair. Why? Because the other law has the interest into applied an issue. That’s why, first of all
we have to ask which law is applicable? It should be fair and predictable rules. It should be rules
which lead us mostly connected to law. You see that in our law every provision is regulated with
the same mentality. We want justice in private international law but we don’t look for substantial
justice. We don’t know the content of the law. Conflict of law rules just show us which law is
applicable and that law must be really connecting to the issue.
FOR EX: Definition between husband and wife. Which law is applicable if there is an issue
between wife & husband? As legislative you can choose husband’s law over wife’s law but it
couldn’t be fair in terms of private international law justice. Because you choose one party’s law
for problems regarding to between wife and husband. So what is the fair solution? -> We must to
find out common law. We should choose law of common nationality of the parties or if there is
no common nationality between the parties, we can choose common habitual residence between
husband and wife. So this is fair because this is common between them. As you see, we dont
discuss which law is better for the issue, maybe husband’s law is better than the law of common
habitual residence but we don’t care. So we dont look for substantial law justice since we dont
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know content. İçeriği bilmiyoruz biz Kanunlar ihtilafında, bize sadece gidilecek yolu gösteriyor.
Hangi kanun uygulanacaktır a cevap veriyor. Belki kocanın hukuku kadının haklarını ortak mutat
mesken hukukundan daha çok koruyor ama bilmiyoruz, ilgilenmiyoruz da. Kanunlar hukuku
hakkaniyeti maddi hukuk hakkaniyetinden farklı. Ama bazı derslerinizde görüceksiniz biz maddi
hukuk hakkaniyetini arayıp, maddi hukuk açısından daha iyi olacağını düşündüğümüz kuralları
koymaya çalışacağız, ama genel olarak böyle değil.
Şimdi genel olarak nasıl işliyor bu kurallarımız ona bakalım. Öncelikle iki önemli latince
terimlerden bahsetmek istiyorum.
 LEX FORI = MAHKEME HUKUKU / HAKİMİN HUKUKU
 LEX CAUSA = ESASA UYGULANACAK HUKUK
Lex fori, biz Türk hukukundan bahsettiğimiz için Türk mahkemesidir her zaman. Lex causa,
kanunlar ihtilafı kurallarını uygulayarak bulduğumuz hukuk, Türk hukuku da olabilir, yabancı
hukuk da olabilir. Yani yabancı hukuku değildir sakın öyle öğrenmeyin. Lex causa esasa
uygulanacak hukuk demektir. Lex fori hakimin hukuku demektir. Dava Londra’da açılırsa,
İngiliz hukuku uygulanacaktır.
Use of Conflict of Law Rules / Kanunlar İhtilafı Hukukunun Kullanılışı
Reminder: If there is no foreign element in our issue, it is not for us to decide which law is
applicable.
First of all, we have to decide the issue is whether procedural or substantial. Mesele usuli mi
esasa ilişkin bir mesele mi önce ona karar vereceğiz. Why is it important? if something is
procedural; we dont ask which law is applicable because in procedural matters only Lex Fori is
applied.
H: Is jurisdiction of court is procedural or substantial issue?
Ö:Procedural.
H:Procedural so that’s why lex fori will be applied. Which evidence must be present in that case?
If we have to prove our case by written document or just with witnesses. This is a procedural
matter and it is subject to Lex Fori. For ex: ıf an American citizen present a case in Turkey and
says that in America there is a jury system, I want a common people to judge my case. We cannot
listen his argument. Its out of question. It is the same for Turkish citizen as well. A Turkish
citizen goes to New York and present a case there, he cannot say like sorry judge I cannot be
judged by jury system. That is not possible because it is procedural system and you have to obey.
So if the matter is procedural issue, we will apply Lex Fori. If the matter is substantial issue, then
we ask which law is applicable and we have to find out what the conflict of rule says.
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Act on Private International and Procedural Law (Act No. 5718)

Chapter II. Rules of Conflict of Laws
Capacity / Ehliyet
Article 9.
(I) The legal capacity of a person shall be governed by his/her national law. / Hak ve fiil
ehliyeti ilgilinin millî hukukuna tâbidir.
Capacity to have rights & duties and capacity to act shall be governed by national law of the
person concerned. As you see there are 2 complements. The first one is connecting subject, the
second one is connecting factor.
 What is the connecting subject in this rule? What does it regulate? -> Capacity. Capacity
to have rights & duties and capacity to act shall.
 What is the connecting factor? -> Nationality of the person. National law.
As you see capacity of a person will subject to his own nationality. This rule doesnt solve any
problem. BUT, it shows us which law will solve the problem.
FOR EX: There is a person who is Mexican. 20 years old Mexican citizen enter a contract with a
Turkish citizen. Is this 20 years old person has legal capacity to enter a contract? According to
Turkish law for sure he has a capacity but Turkish law will not be applied for his capacity. Which
law is applicable regarding to act? -> His nationality. And according to Mexican law, it was 21
age in order to get ability to enter a contract. So according to Mexican law he cannot make a
contract without his legal representatives.
Reminder: As you see our conflict of law rules are not solving the problem but telling us which
law is solving it.
Types of Conflict of Law Rules
1. Multilateral conflict of law rules (Çok taraflı)
2. Unilateral conflict of law rules (Tek taraflı)
Multilateral; At the beginning, we dont know which law is applicable because these rules using
some connecting factor guide us which law is applicable.
Unilateral; this unilateral conflict of law rules lead us apply only Turkish law. Yani sadece Türk
hukukunun uygulanacağını gösteren kurallar.
Article 10- Tutelage, Restriction of Civil Rights and Trusteeship
(I) The legal reasons underlying decisions issuing or revoking a tutelage or guardianship
are governed by the national law of the person who is the subject of the said decision.
(II) In cases where it is not possible to issue a decision regarding tutelage or
guardianship pursuant to the national law of the foreign person, such a decision may
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be rendered pursuant to Turkish law, provided that the habitual residence of such
foreign person is in Turkey.
(III) All issues regarding tutelage, guardianship and trusteeship except the legal reasons
for issuing or revoking tutelage or guardianship decisions, shall be governed by
Turkish law.

Madde 10- Vesâyet, kısıtlılık ve kayyımlık

(1) Vesâyet veya kısıtlılık kararı verilmesi veya sona erdirilmesi sebepleri, hakkında vesâyet
veya kısıtlılık kararının verilmesi veya sona erdirilmesi istenen kişinin millî hukukuna
tâbidir. (bu tıpkı 9. Maddeki ehliyet gibi çok taraflı kanun ihtilafı kuralları)
(2) Yabancının millî hukukuna göre vesâyet veya kısıtlılık kararı verilmesi mümkün olmayan
hâllerde bu kişinin mutad meskeni Türkiye'de ise Türk hukukuna göre vesâyet veya kısıtlılık
kararı verilebilir veya kaldırılabilir. Kişinin zorunlu olarak Türkiye’de bulunduğu hâllerde
de Türk hukuku uygulanır. (hangi durumlarda Türk hukukunun uygulanacağını gösteriyor.
Eğer o kişinin mutat meskeni Türkiye ise ve milli hukukuna göre vesayet altına alınması
mümkün olmuyorsa o zaman Türk hukuku uygulanır ya da zorunlu olarak Türkiyede
bulunuyorsa Türk hukuku uygulanır. Buna örnek olarak; hastanede uzun süre kalıyorsa
bitkisel hayatta ise, burada hapise girmiş ise vs.
(3) Vesâyet veya kısıtlılık kararı verilmesi veya sona erdirilmesi sebepleri dışında kalan bütün
kısıtlılık veya vesâyete ilişkin hususlar ve kayyımlık Türk hukukuna tâbidir.

Article 11- Missing Persons or Declaration of Death

(1) The decision regarding the declaration of a person as missing or dead is governed by the
national law of that person. If the assets of a person that cannot be declared missing or dead
pursuant to the national law of that person are located in Turkey, or his/her spouse or one of
his/her heirs is a Turkish citizen, the decision as to naming the person missing or dead shall be
rendered pursuant to Turkish law.
MADDE 11 - Gaiplik veya ölmüş sayılma
(1) Gaiplik veya ölmüş sayılma kararı, hakkında karar verilecek kişinin millî hukukuna tâbidir.
Millî hukukuna göre hakkında gaiplik veya ölmüş sayılma kararı verilemeyen kişinin
mallarının Türkiye'de bulunması veya eşinin veya mirasçılardan birinin Türk vatandaşı
olması hâlinde, Türk hukukuna göre gaiplik veya ölmüş sayılma kararı verilir. (Bu da yine
tipik bir çok taraflı kanunlar ihtilafıdır. )
The decision as to naming the person missing or dead shall be governed by the national law. If
such a decision may not be delivered according to his own nationality, Turkish law will govern
the issue which means the declaration of death or disapperance where the person’s property is
stated in Turkey or or his/her spouse or one of his/her heirs is a Turkish citizen.Why is legislater
choose to apply Turkish law? Because there is a very strong connection to the Turkey. Normally,
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one of the conflict of rule is appling to person’s national law. But according to his national law,
we cannot declare his death or presume disappeared. For ex: his wife is Turkish, she has to do
something in order to remarry. Or one of the heirs is Turkish and he wants to get his proportion
from heritage. So Turkish law will be applied.
Classification/Qualification of Connecting Factors – Vasıflandırma
Methodology is very important for PIL.We have to classify the issue first. Everything starts with
qualification/classification, this is the first step. Classification means allocation of question rise
by the factual situation before the court to its correct legal category. We see some facts, we have
to allocate these facts into legal categories. For ex: formal validity of the marriage, capacity of
the parties, substantial validity of marriage, divorce, validity of contract, tort etc. we have to
decide these facts, then we will apply conflict of law rules. But first of all, we have to make
classification.
Öncelikle önümüze gelen hayat ilişkisini vasıflandırmamız gerekiyor. Bu ne meselesi ?
Sözleşme mi, haksız fiil mi, evlilik mi, evlilikse evliliğin maddi geçerliliği mi şekli geçerliliği
mi, taraf ehliyeti mi.. Ne meselesidir bu?
Every law can have different qualification methods. Some facts can be regarded as legal
category in British law but in Turkish law vica versa.
FOR EX: Ceremony of marriage is in church for example. Is it formal validity of the marriage or
substantial validity ? or Another question: Is marriage before imam, hoca or any seculary person
formal validity or substantial validity of marriage -> Formal.
But, according to Greek law, it is a substantial issue. As an example, 2 Orthodox Greek citizen
comes to İstanbul and get married in one of the Greek church. This is substantial issue for Greek
law and this marriage is valid. However, for Turkish law marrying in church or mosque is a
formal issue and only marriage before officier is valid.
EX: Is statue of limitation procedural matter or substantial matter according to Turkish law? -> it
is regarded as a substantial issue. That is why, we should find out which law is applicable ‘’Lex
causa’’. On the other hand, in common law in the Anglo-Sakson system statue of limitation is
qualified as procedural matter. That is why, it will subject to Lex Fori. If we see a case in
London, statue of limitation and all the issues of statue of limitation will be subject to English
law because it is procedural. But when it comes to civil law system including Turkey, the court
will decide first lex causa because statue of limitation is regarded as substantial issue.
FOR EX: Lets assume that one party claming that he/she suffer because of the breaking the
engagement. They were engaged and one of the party broke the engagement, other party suffer
from some loses because he/she spent lost of money. She also suffered from moral damages.
According to Turkish law this the breaking the engagement of marriage. It is considered as pre-
contract. However, according to French law there is no such contract/breaking of the
engagement. If someone ask for damage from other party, she can be based on wrongful act.
(Orada nişan bozulması aile hukukuna dayanmıyor, ancak haksız fille dayanarak zararını tazmin
edebilir.)
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So as you see classification can differ from one country to another country.
The first example, the validity of the marriage whether formal validity or substantial validity of
marriage. If we apply Turkish law/lex fori, we will say formal validity of marriage.
The second example, the statue of limitation. If we consider it as substantial law in Turkey, we
should find out which law is applicable/lex causa. However,since it is procedural law in England,
they apply English law/lex fori.
The third example, french couple engages in Turkey and then they breaks the engagement. So this
is breaking up the engagement to marry in Turkey but according to French law, it is accepted as
tort. If we apply qualify it tort, we should consider where the tort occured(article 34) and it is
occured in Turkey. On the other hand ıf we qualify this issue as breaking the engagement Article
12. It says all parties should be governed according to common national law, if there is no
common national law, Turkish law will be applied.
In conclusion, everything depends on which law is applicable to qualification. And there are
basicly 2 arguments/suggestions; lex fori and lex causa. Bu iki görüş içinde genel kabul gören ise
Lex Fori. Yani önümüze çıkan olaylarda biz Lex Foriye göre vasıflandıracağız.