Preliminary Year October 2023
Conflicts of Law - October Examination 2023
Part 1 - Domicile
• Domicile means a permanent home (not
actual) & a link between a person and a place.
• In law, it means the status of being a lawful
permanent resident in a particular jurisdiction.
• If a person maintained sufficient links with a
jurisdiction/ has not left with the intention to
abandon the residency that person remains in
the domicile.
• Domicile could be a country which he has
never been.
• 3 types of domicile.
1) Domicile of Dependence – Father’s domicile
(mother’s if illegitimate child)
1) Domicile of Dependence
For married woman
She gets husband’s domicile
Her domicile changes when husband’s domicile changes as well
• Irrespective of her intention
• Irrespective of whether she lives with him or not
• Apply even if judicially separated & not divorced
Lord Advocate v. Jaffrey
• The child will not father’s domicile if the
father has abdicated the child (Hope v. Hope)
• The child’s domicile is determined by
determining the validity of the marriage
parents
• If the legitimate child’s father has died, the
child will continue the mother’s domicile
• The domicile of the orphans/ illegitimate
children without a mother remained at the time
of the parent’s death & the domicile doesn’t
change with the guardian (Domicile &
Matrimonial Proceedings Act)
• An adoptive child who is treated as a
legitimate will have the adoptive father’s
domicile
• Mentally unfit people retain the domicile they
had before becoming unfit/ incapable
2) Domicile of Choice
• Who acquires the domicile of Choice?
I. A person who is 16 years/ above,
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2) Domicile of Choice – At age 16 if a person
acquires a residence with the intention to
reside there
3) Domicile of Origin – Assigned to a child at
birth
• Everyone has a domicile of any of above
mentioned.
• No one can have more than one domicile at the
same time.
• The burden of proof is on the person who
asserts it.
• The law of a person’s domicile is called Lex
domicile
For Children
Legitimate children – father’s
domicile
Illegitimate children – mother’s
domicile
Duleep sing case
II. Validly married persons,
III. Not Insane.
• Requirements to acquire a domicile
• A person who intends to acquire domicile
takes up residence in the new place.
• Acquire a new place with the intention of
remaining there permanently/ definitely.
• 2 main elements are the intention & the
residence.
• Residence
ü A residence acquired with the intention to
settle is enough, not necessary to establish a
residence of length.
ü Bell v. Kennedy – left origin of domicile in
Jamaica - new residence in Scotland – doubt
of new domicile – wife died – bought land in
Scotland & died. Court held that Jamaica is
Mrs. Bill’s domicile as Mr. Bell hasn’t
acquired a new domicile at her death. Scotland
is Mr. Bell’s domicile as he acquired a
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domicile prior to his death. To acquire a
domicile, the clear intention to reside in it is
essential.
ü Immigrants get the domicile of a new country
as soon as they step there with the intention to
reside there. Not necessary to buy/rent a
house. Illegal immigrants are not subjected to
this.
ü Holding two domiciles in two different
countries at the same time is possible. The
need to acquire a new resident in a new
country with the intention of residing there &
the link between the two residencies must be
maintained properly.
ü Plummer v. IRC – born & domicile of origin
is in England – lived with parents – mother left
– visited mother in holidays – had the intention
to live with mother after education – bank
account, passport contained both addresses.
Court held that must establish, a “new
domicile as the chief residence”
• Intention
ü Types of Intention to reside,
I. For a definite period & leave – not sufficient
to get the domicile
II. Until a definite purpose is achieved – not
sufficient to get the domicile
III. To reside for an indefinite period (until some
induce to leave) – Not Sufficient
IV. Intention to reside forever – Sufficient to get
the domicile
ü Winans v. AG – The person who lived in
England for 37 years for medical purposes,
hated & prevented acquiring a domicile there
held as he hadn’t acquired a domicile in
England. (long residence is not sufficient)
ü IRC v. Bullock – A person who hoped to
return to Canada whose wife died there had
never acquired England domicile.
ü Re Furse case – Workman in England who
had the intention to return to the USA, if his
health prevented him from working, the court
held that he had acquired the domicile in
England.
• Proof of intention
ü Direct evidence – Person’s own statement
which may not be trustable & backed up by
other evidence.
ü Indirect evidence – Consider all
circumstances of his life.
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• Abandonment of Domicile of Choice
ü By ceasing to reside there & by ceasing the
intention to reside there
permanently/indefinitely
ü Goods of Raffenel case – Domicile of origin is
in England – acquired domicile in France by
marriage – husband died – decided to leave
but she died before leaving. The court held,
that if one decided to leave but hasn’t left is
not an abandonment.
• Prisoners if exiled for life, acquire a domicile
in prison, it does not retain the earlier domicile
• Refugees intend to return, not abandon their
domicile at homeland
• Soldiers depend on circumstances
3) Domicile of Origin
• Everyone has a domicile of origin.
• If the parents’ domicile is unknown, then the
country in which the child is found becomes
the domicile of origin
• Domicile of Origin can’t be abandoned, it can
be lost by acquiring a domicile of choice
• If no domicile is applicable, the domicile of
origin will revive
• Fixed domicile of origin cannot be changed
like the domicile of Dependence/Choice
• But adoptive children can acquire the adoptive
father’s domicile
• Frequently, in operation, the domicile of origin
is not used as a connecting factor to select a
legal system
• The domicile of origin is difficult to discard.
But if the party establishes cessation of lawful
physical presence & intention not to return as
well as the presence & intention to return in
the new place, it can be discarded
• Johnson v. Johnson – sailor traveling – spent
short days in Sweden – reached USA – seemed
to settle in New Jersey – married in New York.
Held Sweden as the domicile at the time of
marriage as he had not any clear intention not
to return to Sweden.
• Critiques of Domicile of origin –
(1) Difficult to tell where a person domiciled
(2) Expensive to prove (need the evidence of
life history)
(3) One can provide artificial domiciles with
no real links
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 Preliminary Year October 2023 Colombo Law Academy

• Law Commission Working Paper of 1985 ü It is also more discriminating than the
abolished the Domicile of Origin & according nationality
to that paper, If the claimer is under the age of
16, lives with both parents then gets their Domicile of Choice Habitual Residence
mothers domicile, lives with one parent then Intention is an Intention is not an
get such parent’s domicile, lives with neither essential factor essential factor
parent then the country with the closest Physical presence Physical presence is
connection. is not an essential essential
• If the claimer is mentally disordered, then the factor
domicile of the country with the closest
connection will apply. • Nationality
ü It is a legal relationship between a person & a
• Domicile of Corporation – Acquired state
Domicile of incorporation, cannot be changed ü It affords the state jurisdiction over the person
if the business location changes. ü It’s a political concept & its rights and duties
• Methods of Habitual Residence and vary from place to place
nationality has adopted in some legal systems ü In Civil law countries, there are some people
instead of domicile. with dual nationality.

• Habitual Residence
ü A regular physical presence that must endure Past papers
for some time
ü But do not require the same intention 2018 October – Question 6
necessary to acquire a domicile 2019 April – Question 5
ü Habitual residence can continue even after 2019 October – Question 5
being absent for a long period of time 2020 April – Question 5
ü It is something less than a domicile but more 2020 October – Question 5
than a simple residence. 2021 April – Question 7
2022 April – Question 5

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