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Conflict of Laws 17
Conflict of Laws 17
Unit 28
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Terms
Definitions
“Foreign law”
Jurisdiction
Choice of applicable law
Principles of the choice of law
Rome Convention (1998)
Legal terms
Exercises
Terms
Conflict of Laws
Private International Law
Terms
Private international law: first used by Joseph
Story in Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws
foreign and domestic, in regard to contracts,
rights, and remedies, and especially in regard to
marriages, divorces, wills, successions, and
judgments. (1834)
Conflict of Laws: Ulrich Huber, De Conflictu
Legum Diversarum in Diversis Imperiis (1689)
Terms
Within local federal systems, where inter-
state legal conflicts require resolution
(US), the term "Conflict of Laws" is
preferred because such cases are not an
international issue.
Definitions
That part of private law which deals with
foreign relations
Definitions
The part of the national law of a country
that establishes rules for dealing with
cases involving a foreign element (i.e.
contact with some system of foreign law)
Foreign law
The system of a foreign state or of a law
district
The law of Scotland, Northern Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man – a
separate foreign law
Also: the law of each of the American or
Australian states or Canadian provinces
Example
If a contract is made in England but is to
be fulfilled abroad, it will be necessary to
decide which law governs the validity of
the contract
Examples
A contract between an English and a
French person to be performed partly in
England and partly in France or a third
country
A tort case where an English defendant’s
conduct in New York caused injury to a
Mexican visitor there
Examples
A case where the English court has to
decide on the validity of a marriage
celebrated in France between and English
woman and an Egyptian man
Enforcement: examples
A claimant, having obtained a judgement against
an English defendant in a New York court for
damages for breach of contract, wishes to have
judgement satisfied out of the defendant’s
assets in England
Will the New York judgement be enforced, or will
the claimant have to bring new proceedings in
the English court to establish the claim?
Conflict of laws
Where there is a conflict of laws, three
main questions arise:
1. does the forum in question have
jurisdiction to deal with the matter;
2. if it has jurisdiction, what law shall be
chosen to apply to the matter?
3. how will judgments of foreign courts be
recognized and enforced?
Jurisdiction:
Maharanee of Baroda v. Wildenstein (1972)