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Module 1 - Private International Law
Module 1 - Private International Law
Module 1 - Private International Law
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Introduction
When there are issues between the local laws of various nations pertaining to private
transactions, private international law will be applied. This concept is also called the
‘conflict of laws’. This indicates a dispute or transaction involving one of the following:
the relevant jurisdiction, the appropriate court, the appropriate venue, the appropriate
renvoi (transfer of proceedings), the appropriate law, or the recognition or execution of a
foreign decision.
Private international law mostly derives from national laws. Each country has its own
laws, and the application of private international law differs from one jurisdiction to the
next. The phrase conflict of laws is more often used in the US, Canada, and the UK. A
wide range of subjects is covered by private international law, including (international)
contracts, torts (lex loci delicti), family issues, the recognition of judgements, child
adoption and kidnapping, real property (lex rei sitae), and intellectual property. The
International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) and the Hague
Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) have brought in treaties, model laws,
and other tools to control the domain of transnational conflicts in addition to the
regulations established by national authorities. Both the number of members and the
variety of state parties to the Hague Conventions have seen tremendous expansion.
At the national, regional, and international levels, private international law-making has
exploded as a result of globalisation. It has significantly boosted the actions of judges
and lawmakers alike in the field of private international law.
Conflict of laws
The collection of regulations or laws that jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or
other occurrences that have ties to more than one jurisdiction is known as ‘private
international law’. According to the 10th edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, it is also called
the ‘conflict of laws’. This body of law addresses three major issues:
1. Choice of law, which addresses the issue of which substantive laws will be applied in
such a case;
2. Foreign judgments, which deal with the rules by which a court in one jurisdiction
requires adherence to a ruling of a court in another; and
3. Jurisdiction, which addresses when it is appropriate for a court to hear such a case.
These problems can occur in any private law setting, but contract law and tort law are
where they frequently occur.
As Cheshire expressed, “Private international law, then, is that part of the law which
comes into play when the issue before the courts affects some facts, events or
transaction that is so closely connected with a foreign system of law as to necessitate
recourse to that system.”
The existence of several distinct municipal legal systems across the world is what gave
rise to private international law. National legal systems reflect variations in sociocultural
values, history, and tradition. The common law system in the United States is
distinguished by a significant focus on court decisions as a separate source of law.
Canada considers this common law system to be bi-jural since it integrates with Quebec’s
civil law system.
There is an odd juxtaposition in private international law. Despite the word ‘international’
being a part of its title, only the foreign component qualifies as international. Even
though it includes a global component, private international law is mostly a subset of
municipal law. Every nation has its own private international law for this reason. Private
international law, which is a subset of municipal law, deals with nearly every area of law
and has a very broad scope. It does not, however, focus on any one area of law.
Firstly, they argued that because countries are completely sovereign inside their
boundaries, they cannot be forced to apply international law in domestic courts.
Secondly, for international conflicts of law to function rationally, states must act with
courtesy while upholding the laws of others since doing so is in their shared best
interest.
In the latter part of the 20th century, as interest in the subject grew, the European Union
started to take steps to unify conflict of law jurisprudence across its member states. The
first of them was the 1968 Brussels Convention, which addressed the issue of jurisdiction
for disputes involving multiple countries. The Rome Convention, which addressed choice-
of-law guidelines for contract disputes among EU member states, came after this in
1980.
The domestic laws of the relevant nations regulate a large portion of private international
law. This means that Indian law may be used to determine, for instance, whether a
particular foreign ruling would be upheld in an Indian court. Treaties and conventions,
model laws, legal handbooks, and other instruments may also be utilised in the current
endeavour to develop a more unified system of private international law. There is
currently no well-defined body of private international law, although particular topics like
contracts or family law may have their own set of controlling laws. private international
law is often subject-specific and varies from country to country and jurisdiction to
jurisdiction.
The whole text, status, bibliographic data, and explanatory reports on the Hague
Conference’s work are all available online, including:
Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille
Convention) concluded at The Hague on 5 October 1961 and entered into force on 24
January 1965;
Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial
Matters (Hague Service Convention) concluded at The Hague on 15 November 1965
and entered into force on 10 February 1969;
Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters (Taking of
Evidence Convention) concluded at The Hague on 18 March 1970 and entered into
force on 7 October 1972;
Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Child Abduction Convention),
concluded at The Hague on 25 October 1980 and entered into force on 1 December
1983; and
Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry
Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention) concluded at The Hague on 29 May 1993 and
entered into force on 1 May 1995.
The News and Events section on the official website provides the latest information on the
status of conventions. The archives on the website go back to 1997. The lists of Central
Authorities designated under various conventions are also maintained by the Hague
Conference.
United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG)
Convention on the Limitation Period in the International Sale of Goods, and
New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958 (also
known as the “New York” Convention)
• Cape Town Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters
Specific to Aircraft Equipment, 2001.
The Brussels Convention and the Lugano Convention– are intended to define the worldwide
jurisdiction of their courts, promote recognition and create an expedited mechanism
for ensuring the execution of judgments, genuine documents, and judicial settlements.
The Lugano Convention expanded the laws governing jurisdiction and the execution of
judgements beyond the borders of the European Union.
The Rome Convention– It states that a contract is regulated by the law that the parties
have agreed upon and that is evident from the contract’s terms or the specific facts of
the case.
Study Group on a European Civil Code– The Study Group on a European Civil Code is a
network of academics from throughout the EU engaged in comparative legal analysis
in the area of private law to produce a defined collection of European legal principles
covering the fundamentals of the law of contracts and the law of property.
Principles of European Contract Law from the Commission on European Contract Law– The
Principles of Contract Law were created by the Lando Commission, also known as the
Commission, and are intended to be used as general rules of contract law in the
European Communities when the parties have agreed to incorporate them into their
contract or to have their contract be governed by them.
International Tribunals
International criminal tribunals are either permanent or temporary (ad hoc) courts
established to hear cases involving violations of international criminal or civil law.
Generally, the national courts are approached to settle the majority of private
international law cases but this isn’t an ideal and efficient option for either party.
Furthermore, International courts typically handle matters only between nations and not
private parties. The United Nations, therefore, assumed the charge of establishing
international tribunals for the purpose of prosecuting offenders under private
international law. There are a few regional courts and arbitration bodies that occasionally
handle claims from private parties. These courts frequently use a mix of the relevant
nation’s domestic law and some kind of international law.
The list below includes a handful of these courts established in different regions:
Africa
In Africa, OHADA is applicable and functioning which has established the tribunal courts
for corporate law issues in its member nations, and has also published a number of
model acts aiming to incorporate features of domestic laws to adjudicate matters of
private international law.
European Union
In the European Union (EU), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is the highest court for
disputes involving the application of EU Community law, as opposed to the national law
of individual member states. Furthermore, the European Union enters into international
agreements with other subjects of international law, such as international organisations
and nations, as a subject of public international law. With regard to the judgement,
interpretation, and application of international treaties to which the EU is a party, the
European Court of Justice is uniquely qualified. Additionally, the Court may interpret
foreign agreements reached by the EU as acts of the institutions, particularly during the
preliminary referral phase.
Council of Europe
In the Council of Europe, the European Human Rights Court (EHRC) has authority. If a
person feels their rights have been violated in accordance with the European Convention
on Human Rights, they may file a petition. EHRC acts as the primary judicial forum
where people can file complaints about violations of their rights under the Convention.
Cases occasionally include family law.
It’s important to note that although conflicts of laws often deal with international
problems, local law is the relevant law. This is because, unlike public international law
(more commonly referred to as simply international law), conflict of laws regulates how
individual countries internally handle the affairs of people who have connections to
multiple jurisdictions rather than how countries relate to one another. Undoubtedly, just
like in other situations, international agreements to which a nation is a party may have
an impact on domestic law.
Moreover, issues involving conflict of laws frequently arise in wholly domestic contexts,
relating to the laws of different states (or provinces, etc.) rather than laws of foreign
countries, in federal republics where significant lawmaking occurs at the subnational
level, particularly in the United States.
1. What situations will provide the court jurisdiction over cases with foreign elements?
(selection of a jurisdiction)
2. Which law, the local municipal law or foreign law, shall the court apply in making such
decisions?
3. When will it order the execution of a foreign decree or under what conditions will it
recognise a foreign judgement?
4. Specifically for India, it also involves Indian private international law codification.
In India, there are very few statutory provisions relating to private international law. In
this nation, there is no codification of private international law. Instead, it is dispersed
among many statutes, including the Civil Procedure Code, the Indian Contract Act, the Indian
Succession Act, the Indian Divorce Act, the Special Marriage Act, etc. A few norms have also
developed as a result of court rulings.
Jurisdiction
The assessment of when the legislature of a given jurisdiction may legislate or the court
of a given jurisdiction may lawfully adjudicate an issue that has extra-jurisdictional
aspects is one of the fundamental questions addressed under the conflict of laws. This
issue is ultimately decided by local law, which may or may not take into account
pertinent international treaties or other supranational legal notions, as is the case with
other elements of conflict of laws. Nevertheless, in contrast to the other two subtopics of
conflicts of law, the theory of jurisdiction has given rise to dependable global standards.
This is because jurisdiction deals with the most complex issue of whether or not it is ever
legitimate for a nation to employ coercive force, as opposed to just how it should.
1. Territoriality: A nation has the authority to control anything that takes place inside
its borders. The territoriality concept enjoys the broadest support among jurisdictional
grounds in international law (subject to various complexities relating to actions that
did not occur wholly in one country)
2. Passive personality: A country has jurisdiction over an event that injured one of its
citizens.
3. Nationality (or active personality): A nation has jurisdiction over a wrong
committed by one of its citizens.
4. Protective: A nation has the authority to resolve risks to its own security (such as by
pursuing counterfeiters of official documents).
5. Universal: Because a given behaviour is inherently condemned by the world
community, a nation has jurisdiction over it (such as violent deprivations of basic
human rights). Of the five jurisdictional bases, this is the one that generates the
greatest debate.
Laws have also been adopted by nations to resolve jurisdictional conflicts between sub-
national organisations. For instance, in the United States, the Due Process Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment governs the minimal contacts rule, which limits the scope to
which one state may exercise jurisdiction over residents of other states or events that
occurred in other states.
Choice of law
Courts go through a two-stage process when presented with a choice of law issue:
The law of the forum (lex fori) shall be used by the court in all procedural matters,
including regulations regarding the choice of law;
The laws with the strongest connections, such as the law of nationality (lex patriae) or
the law of habitual residence, are applied after taking into account the circumstances
that connect or relate the legal concerns to the laws of possibly relevant nations (lex
domicilii).
The civil law counterpart of the common law lex domicilii test is the notion of habitual
residency. The plaintiffs’ capacity and legal standing will be established by the court. The
court will decide which state’s legislation (known as the lex situs) will be used to resolve
all title-related disputes. When the issue is substantive, the ruling law will frequently be
the law of the location where the transaction occurs or of the event that gave birth to the
dispute (lex loci actus), but the appropriate law has become a more popular option.
The doctrine of comity
According to the legal concept known as the doctrine of comity, unless doing so would be
against its public policy, a jurisdiction must recognise and implement court judgments
and decisions made in other jurisdictions. The doctrine of comity is primarily utilised in
interpreting international treaties, the theoretical frameworks which are developed within
the nation, and the insights which can be gained from the analysis of Treaties and Model
Law cases have wider implications for the use of comity in other contexts.
Comity, a notion with roots in the Middle Ages, is still relevant today since it aids in
achieving one of the law’s main goals: the swift, fair, and complete settlement of
disputes. In private international law, comity has long been acknowledged as a basic
norm. Courts may nevertheless employ the theory of comity in interpreting international
treaties and using their discretion under them, even when private international law
standards are enacted in such instruments. With governments’ interdependence
constantly increasing in the modern world, this strategy looks even more rational.
A crucial step in that direction is the Hague Convention of 1955, which revised the 1929
Warsaw Conventions. This Convention establishes consistent regulations for the air
transportation of people and cargo.
The laws governing the transportation of people and commodities by water were unified
in the Brussels Convention of 1922-23.
The laws governing the transportation of people and commodities by water were unified
in the Brussels Convention of 1922-23. The Geneva Convention on International Road Carriage
of Goods of 1956 followed. The Convention on the Uniform Law of Bills of Exchange was the
outcome of the Geneva Conference in 1930.
Statute theory
It can be argued that the statute theory is the most traditional theory of private
international law. Bartolus invented it in Italy in the 13th century. He is frequently cited
as this theory’s founder. In order to reconcile problems between the city states’ laws and
the then-existing Italian law, he created the statute theory. Depending on the legal
subject, the statutes were separated into two sections called Statuta
Personalia and Statuta Realia.
The rules of a State are inviolable, but only inside the boundaries of its sovereign
territory.
Everyone who enters a sovereign’s realm, whether temporarily or permanently, is
considered one of his subjects and is subject to his laws as a result.
Due to comity, however, each sovereign acknowledges that a law that has already
been implemented in the nation of its origin should continue to be in effect elsewhere,
provided that doing so would not harm the subjects of the Sovereign by whom its
recognition is sought.
While the first two maxims i.e. any rule of the nation has absolute authority and that
people must abide by it, can be accepted, several academics and legal experts from
throughout the world have criticised the last axiom. The Statute Theory lacks a scientific
foundation and provides no firm footing upon which a sound and logical system can be
built, according to Cheshire & North’s private international law. One can’t expect every
country’s legislation to fit him or his means, according to the third maxim. While
homosexual marriage is legal in certain nations, it is not in others. The third maxim thus
becomes nonsensical and useless.
International theory
Another term for this hypothesis is the Von Savigny theory. The older statute argument
was categorically rejected by the German jurist in his work on Conflict of Laws, which
was published in 1849. The statute theory, in his opinion, is unfinished and unclear.
Savigny argued for a more scientific approach, stating that the challenge is to identify
the local law that, in its natural nature, each legal connection belongs to rather than
classifying laws according to their objects. Each legal relationship has a natural seat in a
specific local law, and when that law diverges from Forum law, it is that local law that
must be followed. In this situation, the seat refers to the location of the object or, in the
case of a person, where he is domiciled. This theory’s most notable strength is its
attempt to resolve each disagreement in light of its unique circumstances and the most
pertinent body of law. It encourages adherence to the rules of the legal system of which
the parties or items in question are logically a part.
It is only normal for there to be some kind of contractual arrangement between the
parties engaged in every legal connection. Therefore, a legal remedy must be sought if
any party to such an agreement should suffer legal injustice.
When determining the domicile of a person who is subject to a legal relationship, one
should place more emphasis on the residence of the parties to the contract, the location
of the contract’s performance, the location of the breach, and the location of the court
i.e. the place where the dispute will be resolved. The lex situs controls the contract if real
property is the issue of the dispute, even if it differs from the domicile of either party or
both parties.
This approach also ignores the common law system and the influences of ethnicity,
religion, and culture on the laws of other nations. India, for instance, is a nation rich in
ethnic and cultural characteristics. Therefore, a country with such a diverse population
has laws that vary greatly from region to region and even from village to village.
Territorial theory
The territorial theory, also called the theory of acquired rights, was established when
Dutch jurist Huber first proposed it in the 17th century since it is based on the idea of
territoriality. Common attorneys like Dicey and Beale in England and the United States,
respectively, developed it later.
In the simplest terms possible, the argument is that the courts of sovereign nations do
not implement foreign law but only acknowledge the effects of foreign law’s operation.
This implies that national courts only implement foreign law to the degree that the
sovereign has given them permission to do so.
The Acquired Rights or Territorial Theory seeks to balance the necessity for private
international law with the territoriality of the law. Sir William Scott used it in the case
of Dalrymple v. Dalrymple (1902). The Hon. Sir William stated that he was to take into
account Miss Gordon’s overseas rights, regardless of whence they originated. The idea, in
particular, does not permit any court to consider any law other than the fundamental law
of the nation.
The argument makes sense when seen from the perspective that no stranger is
permitted to enter your home and rule or direct you. An analogy that illustrates this point
is when a visitor to Mr X’s home instructs Mr X on how to conduct himself. The principle
prevents foreign laws from dictating how Mr X should behave or conduct himself within
his own country. It shows respect for the nations where laws are being sought to be
implemented, and since it is the judge’s own nation, it is legitimate for him or her to
exercise that privilege there.
The territorial theory effectively contradicts the goal of private international law as a field
of study because if it were feasible to resolve every dispute using solely territorial law,
then this discussion would not be necessary. However, it is generally known that
territorial law does not always suffice to resolve legal disputes.
The law must adapt in order to keep up with human evolution. Therefore, it is impossible
for any legislation to always be true if it is based just on prior cases. The ability of higher
courts to overturn prior rulings from lower courts is a prime illustration of this. In several
cases, courts have overturned earlier rulings in light of new information and logical
concerns that have emerged as time has passed.
Theory of Justice
As Dr Graveson, the founder of the theory of justice once expressed, “One of English
legislative and judicial justice, based on what English statutes say and what English
judges do in cases to which the conflict of law applies. It is thus both pragmatic and
ethical.” Dr Graveson created the theory of justice intending to provide genuine justice
as its only tenet. Ideally, according to Dr Graveson, his theory shouldn’t be applied as a
rigid rule in every situation. Rather, his major goal is to administer pure justice while
taking previous decisions, morality, and equality into consideration. Graveson
acknowledges that his hypothesis is not flawless because there are numerous situations
that are impossible to describe using absolutes, and because empirically formed rules in
this area of law, like those in other areas of the law, can occasionally result in very
difficult specific cases. It leads to the key conclusion that no one theory can adequately
address the issue of what constitutes the theoretical underpinnings of private
international law.
The main problem in this theory is that one must apply the laws of at least one foreign
country, but none is willing to concede to such laws. Giving down to foreign laws and
enforcing them when resolving disputes merely amounts to one sovereign losing his
sovereignty in front of another.
Cheshire and others point out that such a subjection of one’s sovereignty occurs by free
will and is not the result of coercion. However, one has no option when it comes to
matters of private international law. Because it includes the interests of many parties
who are at odds with one another, it is known as ‘private international law’. Therefore, it
is imperative that some kind of foreign law be used to address such conflict of interest
matters.
On February 23, 1959, the Rajasthan Court heard the case of Christopher Andrew
Neelakantan vs. Mrs Anne Neelakantan. According to a Judgement made by Justice Modi, a
person residing in India who marries an English lady in England (probably in accordance
with national law) is eligible for a divorce under the Special Marriage Act of 1954, which
establishes the legal divorce process in India. As was made obvious in the Judgement of
the case that was exactly cited above by the Rajasthan panel, equity considers the intent
rather than the form.
The primary goal of the law is to provide relief or redress to the party who has been
wronged, and if there is a technicality that prevents granting that party remedy, the law
is sometimes referred to as being useless or aimless.
The following stages are beneficial when looking into a private international law issue:
1. To start, ascertain if the jurisdictions in issue have a conflict of laws policies by looking
at each one separately.
2. Determine if the subject of the dispute is covered by a treaty or convention.
3. Use supplementary sources.
4. Examine the laws of other countries and jurisdictions.
Difference Between Public International Law and Private International Law / Law of Conflicts
1) Public International law is the body Conflict of laws, often called Private
of legal rules, which applied between International Law. Private International Law
Sovereign States and other regulating relationship between Private
International Personalities. persons (Natural or Legal) of two different
States.
2) Public International law rules are Private International law rules are framed by
outcome of International custom and the State legislature.
treaties.
5) Public International Law is same for Private International Law differ from state to
all the States. state.
--
Anirudha Choudhury,
Assistant Professor, KIIT Law School,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Mobile-9861020916
Bhubaneswar, Odisha
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