Syllabus

• Introduction:
• Definition, Nature/ Characteristics and Scope of Private International Law and its relation to International Law: Meaning of Private International Law:
Object of Private International Law: Justification of Private International Law: Distinction between Private International Law and Public International Law:
Public International Law and Conflict of Laws.
• 
• Historical Development and Current Theories:
• General historical development of the doctrines of the private international Law and Concepts: Evolution of PIL in England, America and India Theories of
PIL: Statue Theory: Territorial Theory: International Theory: Local Law Theory
• 
• Concepts:
• Classification of Cause of Action, Rule of Law: The Incidental Questions and its elements: Substance and Procedure and the difference between the two:
Domicile, Nationality and Residence: The Application and Exclusion of Foreign Law, Question of Fact, Proof of Foreign Law, The Role of witness who can
prove Foreign law: the Role of the Court, Jurisdiction of Courts: General Choice of Rules/ Separate Choice of Rules: Charaterisation, Theories: Renvoi and
scope, Ordre Public/Public Policy
• 
• Jurisdiction, Foreign Judgment and Awards:
• Jurisdiction of the English courts, an introduction: Jurisdiction under the Brussels and Lugano Conventions:. The competence of the English courts under
the traditional rules (Actions in personam& Action in rem): Stays of English proceedings and restraining foreign proceedings: Limitations on jurisdiction:
Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments: the traditional rules (Common Law, Statute, The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements):
Recognition and enforcement of judgments under the Brussels and Lugano Conventions: Foreign Arbitral awards
• 
• Choice of Law:
• Rules of Choice of Law: Persons, Natural & Legal Persons: Company Formation and Liability etc.
• 
•
 
• The Law of Obligations:
• Contracts: Non-contractual obligations/ Torts: The Rome Convention,, Particular Contracts, Employment Contracts,
Insurance Contracts, Consumer Contracts, Contratcs of Carriage, Franchising, Leasing, Negotiable Instruments including Law
of Cheques.
•  Family Law:
• Marriage: Matrimonial causes: Declarations: Financial relief: Children: Legitimacy and Legitimation: Adoption: Mental
Incapacity.
•  
• The Law of Property:
• LexReiSitae: The distinction between movables and immovables: Movables & Immovables (Jurisdiction and Choice of Law)
including Transfer of Property: The Transfer of Tangible movables (Various Theories, The Modern Law): The Assignment
(Voluntary Assignment and Involuntary Alienation) of Intangible movables, Debts, Negotiable Instruments, Shares and
Securities: Administration of Estates: Succession: Matrimonial property: Trusts.
•  Procedure:
• Staying Actions, Forum Non Convenience& Alibi Pendens and Jurisdiction Clause.
•  Special Rules for Particular Contracts:
• Intellectual Property Rights, Patent Law, Copyright, International Copyright, Labour Law.
•  
• :
•  
• International Process Law:
• Avoiding the results of the choice of law process, Model Law Indian Code of Private International
Law.
•  
• Suggested Readings:
• Cheshire, North and Fawcett, Private International Law, 14th Edition Oxford University Press.
• Paras Diwan, Peeyushi Diwan, Private International Law, Deep and Deep Publications.
• F.E. Noronha, Private International Law, Universal Publications.
• Diwan Paras Dr, Private International Law.
• Cheshire and Black, Private International Law, 1992 Edn. Butterworths, London.
• Kahn Freund, General Problems of Private International Law.
• Craveson, Conflict of law.
• Westlake, Private International Law.
• Dicey, Conflicts of Laws.
• Schminthof, Private International Law.
 Definition
• Private interanational law is also called as Conflict of law (CoL)
• English jurist Story first coined the word Private International Law

• Private International Law is not an Act of legislature ,a statute or a code .It is simply a compendious term used
to describe the rules evolved in a legal system for dealing with cases involving issues having foreign connection
• Private interanational law ,in effect, is conflict between national municipal law of different countries.
• Private International Law is the body of law that governs private relationships that cross national borders.
Private International Law is part of law which comes into operation when legally confronted with a foreign
element.
• .

• Cheshire: “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 American Society of International Law defines it as "the body of conventions, model laws, national laws,
legal guides, and other documents and instruments that regulate private relationships across national borders
• Dicey & Morris: English PIL is that branch of law of England which “consists of
rules which do not directly determine the rights and liabilities of particular
persons but which determines the limit of the jurisdiction to be exercised by
the English courts and also the choice of the body of law, whether domestic
law of England or the law of any foreign country by reference to which English
courts are to determine different matters brought before them for decision.

• Conflict of laws means a branch of Indian Law applied by Indian courts

whenever a dispute before it involves a foreign element [Viswanathan R v
Rukn-Ul Syed Abdul Wajid AIR 1963 SC 1].
•
• Conflict’ presupposes existence of two or more legal systems claiming to apply
in a given situation.
•
•
• Foreign element- Indian courts are called to decide a petition of divorce presented by an Indian domiciled
in India who had married a English women in England or who had married French women in Berlin.
• Or Indian courts are called upon to try the question of succession to the property of person who died in
India (domiciled in India or abroad),who has left movable and immovable properties both in India and
abroad.
• Recognition of foreign judgement or enforcement of foreign decree.
• Indian wife file petition U/S 125 or CrPC in india against Indian husband domiciled in New York. Where
husband takes plea that marriage had already been dissolved by decree of New York court.
•  
• Conflict of laws arise in following two cases
• When the law of two or more contries comes in conflict.
• Conflict may arise between the laws of same countries.
• Law of states of USA or Soviet Union or province of Canada differ from each other ( Conflict of Territorial
laws)
• When the laws of different communities in a country differ from each other.
• For example personal laws of Indian Hindus , Muslims ,and Parsis differ from each other
• ( Conflict between the personal laws of communities)
 Subject matter of PIL
• :
• Common law and Civil law systems differ on this.
• Civil law countries GERMANY, SWITZERLAND and SCANDINAVIAN countries
• Matters relating to foreigners - fall under a separate branch known as Law of Foreigners.

• Russia and Eastern European countries treat law relating to foreigners as a

• branch of Administrative Law.

• Subject matter of PIL in INDIA

• 1-rules relating to jurisdiction of courts

• 2-rules of choice of law
• 3-and rules relating to recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and decrees

• According to Szaszy: “problems connected with conflicts of

• Jurisdiction cannot be included in PIL, either because the subject
• of regulating the competence of courts for exercising jurisdiction
• belongs to the law of civil procedure, more precisely, to the
• international law of civil procedure”.
Private international law
• 1-. Conflict of laws, often called
Private International Law. Private
International Law regulating
relationship between Private persons
(Natural or Legal) of two different
States.
• 2- private international law is
enforced by executive of the state .
• 3-. conflict of laws is a branch of
domestic law of countries to be
followed by domestic courts.
• 4-Private International Law differ
from state to state.
Public international law
• 1-. Public International law is the
body of legal rules, which applied
between Sovereign States and other
International Personalities
• 2- public International law is
imposed through external pressure
and fear, deterioration of diplomatic
ties, sanctionse etc.
• 3- public international law is a law
between States, and is generally not
enforceable in domestic courts
• 4-Public International Law is same
for all the States.
• There are certain rules of law which are common between
private and public international law.
• For instance the Soverenign immunity is accepted both in
both public international law and private international law.
• Immunity is derived ultimately from the public
international law
• Duke of Brunswick Vs king of hanover (1844) – it was
held that no foreign country can be sued in the english
courts without its consent.
•
 Basis /justification of application private
international law
Comity of nations was the earliest. Dutch jurist John Voet said that one nation
applies the law of another to show its regard towards it.

Another basis for the application of foreign law is that foreign law is applied
because it is necessary for the determination of the rights of parties.
Egyptian law does not recognise adoption- and if court of cairo (capital city of
egypt) have to decide whether son adopted by an Indian Hindu in India is his
legitimate child
If cairo court apply Egptian law the child will be illegitimate, but if it will apply
inidan law son will be legitimate.
Under Italian law contract without consideration is valid- and suppose and Italian
contract comes for adjudication before an Indian court
If Indian law applied the contract will be void.
But if Italian law applied the contract will be valid.
The other basis is the need to do justice, which is the foundation of
CoL- to satisfy the reasonable and legitimate expectation of the
parties to a transaction or occurrence (Dicey, Morris & Collins)- if
the courts apply only the domestic law, there may be the
possibility for criticism of ‘forum shopping’ as the parties may
tend to file the proceedings in the courts of the country where
the domestic laws are favourable to them.

Another reason for applying CoL is practical- if the Indian courts

apply Indian law in respect of the property lying in country X, it
would be difficult to apply the decision of Indian Court in country
X if the decision is contrary to the law of country X.
• There are several others name that have been
suggested for private international law
• 1- International private law
• 2-Inter- municipal law
• 3- Extra-territorial recognition of rights
• 4- Civil,family and labour law.
 Sources of PIL in India
• Civil procedure code 1908
• section 13 &14- Foreign Judgement when conclusive.
• Sections 44A ,45 &Order 21 rule 22(1) (b)- Execution of foreign decrees of reciprocating territory.
• Section 78 – Commission issued by foreign courts.
• Section 83 to 87 ,87A & 87B- Suits by aliens ,foreign states and foreign rulers.
• Indian succession Act ,1925- section 4 to 19
• Constitution of india – Article 5
• Citizenship Act,1955
• Foreigners Act ,1946
• Foreign Marriage Act ,1969
• Foreign jurisdiction Act ,1947
• Foreign Awards Recognition and enforcement Act ,1961
• Arbitration and conciliation Act 1996
• Negotiable instrument act section 134-137
• The Design Act ,2000 section 20
• The foreigner Act ,1946
• Information technology Act ,2000, (statement of object and Reasons)
• Carriage by Air Act,1972 Etc.
 Historical developments & theories
• Era of territorial laws- During Roman empire, Romans were governed by Roman
Law
• The dispute between non-citizens were decided by a law known as ‘law of
nations’
• Law of nations – it was a body of rules different and distinct from provincial law
of either party.
• Thus Practically ,there was nothing like PIL during the Roman Empire- however
the principles of domicile and lex situs was prevalent in Roman Law.
• Era of personal laws- after the fall of Roman Empire, from 6th to 10th century the
era of personal laws prevailed- wherever a person went, he carried his law with
him Thus a saxon was governed by saxon law and sabian was governed by sabian
law wherever he might go – With two exceptions are criminal law and canon law.
• In this era also there no coherent picture is discernble for PIL.
• .
• Era of Feudalism and City States- 11th and 12th centuries witnessed the exit of the era
of personal laws and its replacement by the era of feudalism in the
• 1-North of Alps( France ,Germany ,Spain,England )
• Feudalism ushered the era of territorial laws in North of Alps this (feudalism) does
not tolerate application of any foreign law. Thus again , there was no scope for the
development of private international law.

• 2- south of Alps

• In the South of Alps- there rose many prosperous city states, such as Milan,Genoa,
Pisa ,Bologna,Venice . Each of these states had their own laws ,these laws differed on
each other .There was progressively developing trade and commerce among these
city states.
• Because of trade and commerce one city state could not ignore the law of other city
states. Thus rule of private internatinoal law become imminent.
Era of Statutists:
During 13th century there was emergence of rules of PIL- in this century, trade and
commerce between city states had reached its zenith- in the interest of trade &
commerce city states recognised each other’s laws-
this was also the age of revival of Roman law-
Bartolus was the greatest authors of this age and he influenced the legal thought
of European countries for several centuries- with him came the Statute theory
In the middle ages ‘statute’ meant any law or custom which prevailed in any city of
Italy contrary to the Italian law- originally the theory was conceived to provide
solution to the conflict among the laws of Italian city states and between the
laws of Italy and other city states-
Protagonist of statute theory classified statute in 3 heads
1- statute relating to person 2- statute relating to things 3- Mixed statute
this theory has certain problem areas such as characterisation
Modern era:
In the 19th century, which is regarded as the beginning of modern era, German jurist
Friedrich Carl von Savigny rejected the Statute theory and propounded a new theory,
According to which for the entire civilised world one uniform system of PIL could be
developed-
He said - the object of PIL is to find out the ‘seat’ of every legal relationship.

SEAT- The seat of a thing was the place where it was situated,
the seat of the legal relationship of the capacity of a person was the place where he was
domiciled
According to Savigny , the object of PIL is to establish the co-relation of a legal relationship
with some territorial law; every legal relationship must belong to some law and
therefore the object of PIL is to find out the ‘seat’ of every legal relationship;
and in the event there being a conflict between the territorial law and the law of the
place to which legal relationship belongs, the latter should be applied.
• Socialist revolution accomplished at the end of the First World War
• +
• the socialist revolution that took place in the people’s democracies after the Second World
War have changed aspect of the world

• Parallel to the capitalist system founded on private property,

• the socialist legal system founded on the social property of the means of production came
into being;
• Contacts of a completely new type were established as regards the relationship between
capitalist and socialist states and between socialist states.
 Evolution of private international law in
England
• Due to several historical reasons, the rules of PIL could not develop in England before the
17th century
• There was a rule in England that to all the suits before the English courts, the rules of
English law applied
• There was another English law which prevented foreigners from becoming owners of land
• In Cavlin’s case [(1608) 7 Rep. 2a]- It was held that scots people can become the owner of
land in England.
• Slany v Cotton (1625) – In this case english court showed willingness to take evidence of
foreign law.
• Weir case(1607)- English courts also showed their willingness to recognise foreign
judgments
• Trade and commerce related cases were entertained in special courts known as Staple
and Pie Power Courts.
• In 17th century a stage was reached when English courts were, by social necessity,
compelled to take cognizance of PIL situations
• In the 18th century, British Empire reached the dimension ‘sun never
sets’- the constituents of the empire had different sets of laws.
• In Robinson v Bland[(1760)2Burr.1077]
• Mansfield LJ said - The general rule.... is that the place where the
contract is made, and not the place where action is brought, is to be
considered in expounding and enforcing a contract.
• But this rule admits of an exception when the parties at the time of
making of the contract had a view to a different kingdom.” Then
Mansfield LJ propounded the notion of what is today known as ‘proper
law of contract.

• Mostyn v Gabrigos [(1774) Cowp. 161]- Mansfield LJ propounded

• Rules governing foreign tort.
• Chesire rightly cautions : An important fact that should never
be overlooked either by student or by the practioner is that
• many of the older decision are faulty and dangerous
guides ,and especially so when the point at issue has been
the subject of more recent jurisdiction. This is one sphere in
which the wisdom of our elders is less sarcosanct than usual.
• He also says that 18th century may be termed as ‘the
embryonic period’ of Private international law.
• 19th century can take the credit for a period in which rules of
PIL start taking shape
Evolution of private international law in India
• During Gupta and Mauryian Empire India had a flourishing trade and
commerce with many countries ,across the high sea and through inland routes.
• Suits pertaining to contracts and
• transactions relating to trade and commerce
• Are decided by law and custom of merchants.
• During Gupta and Mauryian Empire laws in India was territorial though
usages and custom too had their place.
• With the establishment of Mughal rule emerged the Era of personal laws in
India.
• During British rule, from its inception to end, various communities were
governed by their personal law in personal matters;
• occasions for conflicts were low as inter-community relations were not
possible.
• Inter-community marriages could be performed in civil marriage form under
the Special Marriage Acts, 1872- 1928;
• ( this statute has been now repealed and replaced by the special marriage act
1954 underwhich on the satisfaction of certain requierments as to capacity
“any two person” can perform a civil marriage.)

• Once the marriage was performed under the Spl Marriage Acts, the parties
ceased to be governed in most matters by the law of their respective
community-
• Succession governed by the Indian Succession Act, 1925
• the conflicts are thus avoided; the position is same even now.
• A Hindu living in any area is governed by the personal Hindu law prevailing in
that area- thus a Hindu living in Bengal is governed by Dayabhaga school and
will continue to be governed by that school wherever he goes.
• Whenever matters come for adjudication in Indian court during
British period having foreign element- Indian court decided
them mostly by applying rules propounded in English decisions.
• Thus ,basically rules of Indian private international law are
based ( sometimes bodily borrowed) on the rules of English PIL.
• Even after Independence we follow rules of British PIL

• After independence Justice Sinha observation is noteworthy

• Circumstances ,however ,have now altered,and in my opinion
it is no longer incumbent upon us to follow the English rules,or
for the matter of that ,any rule expecting our own…..
Theories of PIL:
1. Statute theory
2. International theory
3. Territorial theory and the theory of acquired rights
4. Local law theory, and
5. Theory of justice
Statute theory:
In 13th century the law of city states ,Genoa,Pisa, ,Milan,Bologna,Venice,Florence,Parma,Siena,Amalfi was
contained in statues.
Bartolus- has propounded this theory and may be called the father of statute theory.

‘Statute’ - It was a declaratory restatement of older customary law of the city and its commercial community;
they contained new rules also.
Statutes were classified under:
(i) statutes concerning person (statuta personalia)
and (ii) statutes concerning things (statuta realia).

Bartolus added another i.e., mixed statutes (statuta mixta) concerning acts such as formation of a contract..
• Personal statute – was one which mainly concerned person.
• Real statute- was one which concerned things
• Mixed statute – was one which concerned acts such as contracts.

• Statutes concerning things were essentially territorial;

• personal statutes applied to persons domiciled within the territories of the state.
• Mixed statutes applied to all acts done in the country enacting such statutes, even when
litigation was filed in another jurisdiction.

• French Version of statute theory-

• Different French provinces had different system of laws k/a COUTUME.
• Provincial laws differed from each other,and,owing to inter-provincial trade and intercourse
between the people of different provinces , the provincial laws were in constant conflict with
each other.
• In the 16th century France, scholars undertook to develop the theory further- they tried to
mould the theory to suit their social conditions-
• The arch protagonists of this theory are Charles Dumoulin and Bertrand D’ Argentre-
• Dumoulin- emphasised volition of the parties as the deciding factor of law of contract.
• Bertrand D’ Argentre- propounded the theory of territoriality of law. According to him
whenever there is a doubt whether the matter is personal or real or mixed it should be
treated as real.
• Dutch Version of statute theory
In the 17th century Dutch jurists made strides into the theory- notable was Frisian Ulric
Huber; he propounded:
(i) The laws of each state operate within its territory and are applicable to all its
subjects, but beyond its territory they have no operative force;
(ii) Laws of a state are applicable to all those persons who are within the realm
irrespective of the fact whether they are permanent residents or casual visitors;
(iii) By comity every sovereign accepts that a law which had come into operation in its
country of origin shall retain its force where everywhere, provided it does not cause
any prejudice to the subjects of the sovereign by whom its recognition is sought.
The first two principles embody the doctrine of territoriality;
under the third principle an extraterritorial effect is given to the law by application of
comitas gentium-
Infact , comity and the pressure of international commerce require that acts and
transactions entered into validly in one jurisdiction should be upheld in all other
jurisdictions.
• The contribution of Dutch jurist to the science of private of international law was
considerable and far reaching . They laid down the rule – which is valid till this day.
• Every state is free to lay down its own rules of private international law
• Every state is free to lay down that its courts will not apply any foreign law or will
apply certain rules of foreign law in certain condition.
• However ,in reality no state would exercise this freedom arbitrarily. THUS one can
say that Dutch jurist laid down the well built foundation for the building up of a
sound structure of private international law.
 Development of statute theory In 17th and
18th centuries
In 17th and 18th centuries the statute theory was developed by French
& German jurists- political opinions and contemporary events
brought about many modifications in this theory-
Doctrines of Grotius in Pub Int law contributed largely-
Although the theory was propounded from time to time by various
jurists,
two things are common to all the statutists:
(a) they all examine the individual legal rule itself and consider the
question whether it is restricted in its application to the state which
enacted it, or whether it is equally valid extraterritorially; and
(b) they all try to evolve principles which are meant to apply super-
nationally super-provincially and super-locally.
 International theory
• Savigny - the founder-father of the theory - in 1849 published eighth volume of his work
System of Modern Law .
• He rejected statute theory and territorial theory-
• According to him, solution to the problem did not lie in classifying the laws on the basis of
their object, but in the ability to find out the seat of each legal relationship, as each legal
relationship has its natural seat in some local law;
Main postulates of Savigny:
Every legal relation has a seat
The task of the jurist is to find this (he developed many rules to enable one to find out the
seat; he said that
seat of a thing was the place where it was situated;
the seat of the capacity of a person was the place where he was domiciled).

• He said that it is essential to keep in mind that there exists an international community of
nations- according to him the application of foreign law is not based on comity but on the
benefit that it brings to all concerned.
Other protagonists of International theory:
Von Bar of Germany; Westlake of England; Wharton of US; Jitta of
Holland-
According to Zitelmann (Germany), PIL is a complete system- capable of
resolving every possible case of conflict.
Criticisms: the important criticism is that it starts on the assumption that
there is uniformity in the laws of the countries on characterisation,
while in fact it is not so; for example breach of marriage promise is
regarded as breach of contract in some countries, while it is regarded
as tort in some countries- in such a situation it is difficult to find out
the natural seat of the legal relationship; in contemporary world there
are more than one systems, of them important one are common law
and civil law.
 Territorial theory or the theory of Acquired
Rights
• D’ Argentre- placed undue emphasis on the real statute and thereby gave birth to
territorial theory.
• - this theory was also named as theory of acquired rights by some jurist.
: The main protagonists of this theory are Dutch jurist Huber and elaborated in England
jurist Dicey and US jurist Beale.
It is based on the principle of territoriality.
According to this theory, courts of the country apply foreign law only to the extent they
are permitted to do so by the sovereign.
- According to the protagonists, under PIL courts do not apply foreign law or enforce
foreign judgments, but they merely recognise and enforce the rights acquired under
foreign law-
- thus foreign acquired rights are protected and given effect to, and not the foreign law-
- According to Dicey: “English judges never in strictness enforce the law of any country
but their own and when they are popularly said to enforce foreign law, what they
enforce is not a foreign law, but a right acquired under the law of a foreign country”.
The criticism of this theory by the French jurist P. Armingjon can be
summarised as follows:
(1) The theory of acquired rights is nothing but the invocation of a fiction
which is unnecessary and useless.
(2) The theory begs the question and produces a vicious circle.
(3) It is possible that under the rules of choice of law of a country it may
happen that right which is unrecognised or repudiated by a foreign law may
be enforced by the court of the forum- for example under the Pakistani law
a Muslim wife is not entitled to maintenance after divorce; yet the English
courts have power to pass a maintenance order against a Pakistani
domiciled husband residing in England who had divorced his wife.
(4) According to Cheshire: “the theory of vested rights is analytically defective
and inadequate as an explanation of the pattern of rules of PIL. “
Local Law theory:
It is an offset of jurists of the realist school of jurisprudence- it is an extreme
operation of the doctrine of territoriality-
According to Walter Wheeler Cook, the American propounder, - no court applies
any other law but its own, nor enforces any right or obligation other than that
created by its own-
The propounders of this theory maintain that when the courts of forum have to
decide a case having foreign elements, they always apply their own law, though
in doing so they adopt and enforce as their own law a rule of decision identical,
or at least highly similar not identical, in scope with a rule of decision found in
the system of law in force in another state or country with which some or all the
foreign elements are connected.
The forum enforces not a foreign right but a right created by its own law.
This theory is criticised as it affords no basis for the systematic development of PIL.
 Theory of Justice -Graveson
:

This theory is pragmatic and ethical-

According to Graveson its premises are threefold:
1-Sociological,
2-Ethical and
3- Legal
1-Sociological - sociologically it rests on the international need for fair treatment in the private
transactions of individuals;
2- Ethically - it reflects the traditions and training of English lawyers, judges and legislators as
expounders of justice of their day and age; and
3- Legally- it rests on the terms of the judges’ oath.
He admits that this theory is not a perfectly valid theory in every case, for one cannot explain in
terms of absolutes an empirically developed system like our own.
No one theory can possibly answer the theoretical bases of PIL- in the 12th century the principle of
territoriality of laws came into existence and in the entire Italy the doctrine had its sway; in the 20th
century the same the theory was propounded in different garbs-
•It is international social need which have given birth and theoratical basis to PIL.
 Commonly used expressions
• :
• Lex actus/ lex loci actus: the law of the place where the act was done or the
transaction was completed
• lex causae: the law that governs the dispute (the law identified in the choice of
law stage of the conflict process as the one to be applied to determine the case)
• Lex contractus/ Lex loci contractus: the law of the place where contract was
made
• Lex delicti/ Lex loci delicti: the law of the place where the tort or other wrong
was committed
• Lex domicilii : the law in force in the country or place where the person is
domiciled
• Lex fori : the law of the forum, i.e., the law in force in the court hearing the
dispute
• Lex loci celebrationis : the law of the place where the marriage is performed
• lex loci solutionis : the law of the place where the
contract was to be performed or the debt paid
• lex monetae : the law of the country in whose
currency a debt or monetary obligation is expressed
• lex patriae : the law of the nationality of the person
• lex rei situs/ lex situs : the law of the place where
the property is situated
• Propositus : the person whose rights and
obligations are considered
Unification of PIL:
The need for PIL arises because the internal laws differ from
country to country. If the internal laws of various countries
lay down uniform rules, probably there will not be any need
for PIL. Difference is not only in the internal laws but also in
the PIL, on account of which conflicting decisions are
pronounced by courts of various jurisdiction on same/ similar
set of facts- thus there is a need for unification of rules of PIL.
There are two modes for unification:
(a) Unification of the internal laws of countries; and
(b) Unification of the rules of PIL.
Berne Convention, 1886- under this convention an international union for the
protection of authors over their literary and artistic works was formed.
After First World War an International Institute for the Unification of Private Law
was established at Rome- this Institute has achieved some success in the field of
unification of civil laws.
Warsaw Convention of 1929 amended by the Hague Convention of 1955- very
important convention that provides for uniform rules relating to carriage of goods
and persons by air.
Brussels Convention of 1922-23 unification of rules relating to carriage of goods and
persons by sea came into existence. Geneva Convention on International Carriage
of Goods by Road 1956 was on the same lines relating to carriage by road.
• In 1964 a convention that establishes uniform set of international sales of goods
and on the formation of contracts for such sales was formulated by the Rome
Institute in conjunction with the Hague Conference.
 Unification of the rules of private
international law
• Convention concerning the recognition and enforcement of Decision
involving Obligation to Support minor children-1958
• Convention Abolishing the requirement of legalization of foreign Foreign
public documents -1961
• Convention on the conflict of laws Relating to the forms of testamentary
Dispositions,-1961
• Convention on jurisdiction,Applicaple law and Recognition of decrees
relating to adoption-1965

• There have been successful efforts on regional level.

• The Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and
Iceland) in 1929-33 entered into a number of Conventions to unify the
rules of PIL relating to marriage, adoption and guardianship