Bahir dar university, school of law, private international law individual assignment

Abraham mamo…….section A……….Id 1013226…………….year-3

Question: - discuss the basic features of conflict of laws.

Firstly, before we are going to the see the basic features of conflict of laws (PIL) it is important to
understand the meaning of the subject. So, what does it mean?

Conflict of laws or private international law (both terms are used interchangeably) concerns relations
across different legal jurisdiction between person, and sometimes also companies, corporations and other
legal entities. Private international law or conflict of law is that part of the law of a state which comes to
operation whenever there is a dispute before a court which contains a foreign element.

Features of conflict of laws

 Private international law is the part of the domestic law of the state

From this one can understand that private international law is the domestic law of one country, stating
in other words private international law is that part of the law of every state which deals with cases
having a foreign element. Even private international law of one country may differ from another
country. Generally, national laws are the primary source of private international law. Private
international law also embodied in treaties and convention, model laws, legal guides, and other
instruments that regulate transaction.

 It is applied when the dispute before a court contains a foreign element.

The issue of conflict of law comes into operation whenever there is foreign element. Private
international law, then, is that part of the law which come to play when the issue before courts affects
some facts, events or transaction that is so closely connected with a foreign system of law as to
necessitate recourse that system. So, foreign element is very crucial in absence of foreign element we
cannot talk about conflict of law. The moment that a case is seen to be affected by a foreign element,
the court must look beyond its own internal law. Foreign element may be foreign law or fact, that is,
factual circumstance; factual content, factual ingredients of a legal cause of action, fact patterns
which is one or more ways are linked to a foreign legal system or a foreign country. It just means
contact with a foreign system.

 Private international law is essentially a system of indicating choice.

Private international law or international private law governs the choice of law to apply when there
are conflicts in the domestic law of different countries related to private transaction. This means that
there is a dispute or transaction that involve one of the following

 What jurisdiction applies – choice of court

 choice of applicable law
 recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards
 It does not lead to any final decision.

The other features of conflict of laws are it does not give any solution. Its rules do not furnish a direct
solution to the dispute rather they are the means to the end. Private international law, by vary nature,
merely indicating the governing law under which a case is to be decided.