conflict of laws Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad ...

, the term ''lex loci'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "the law of the place") is a shorthand version of the

choice of law Choice of law is a procedural stage in the litigation of a case involving the conflict of laws when it is necessary to reconcile the differences between the laws of different legal jurisdictions, such as sovereign states, federated states (as in t ...

rules that determine the '' lex causae'' (the laws chosen to decide a case).''Black's Law Dictionary'' abridged Sixth Edition (1991), p. 630.

General principles

When a case comes before a

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

, if the main features of the case (particularly the parties and the causes of action) are local, the court will then apply the ''lex fori'', the prevailing

municipal law Municipal law is the national, domestic, or internal law of a sovereign state and is defined in opposition to international law. Municipal law includes many levels of law: not only national law but also state, provincial, territorial, regional, ...

, to decide the case. However, if there are "foreign" elements to the case, the court may then be obliged, under conflict of laws, to consider whether it has

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

to hear the case (see forum shopping). The court must then characterise the issues to allocate the factual basis of the case to its relevant legal classes. The court may then be required to apply the

rules to decide the '' lex causae'', the law to be applied to each cause of action. Relevant rules include the following.

''Lex causae''

''Lex causae'' (

for "law of the cause"), in

, is the law chosen by the forum court from the relevant legal systems when it judges an international or interjurisdictional

case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to ca ...

. It refers to the usage of particular local laws as the basis or "cause" for the ruling, which would itself become part of referenced legal canon. Conflict of laws regulates all

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

s involving foreign law if the outcome of a legal action would differ by the laws applied. Once the forum court has ruled that it has

to hear the case, it must then decide which possible law is to be applied.

''lex domicilii''

The ''lex domicilii'' or ''lex loci domicilii'' is the

term for "law of the domicile" in the

. Conflict is the branch of

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct ...

regulating all

s involving a "foreign" law element where a difference in result will occur depending on which laws are applied.

''Lex fori''

''Lex fori'' (

: the law of the forum) is a

rule. If applicable, it provides that the law of the

or venue in which a legal action is brought applies. When a court decides that it should, by reason of the principles of

conflict of law Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad ...

, resolve a given legal dispute by reference to the laws of another jurisdiction, the '' lex causae'', the ''lex fori'' still governs procedural matters.

''Lex loci actus''

In the

, ''lex loci actus'' or ''lex actus'' is the law of the place where the act occurred that gave rise to the legal claim. This is often confused with '' lex loci delicti commissi'' which is where the tort is committed. While typically they both point to the same location, in the case of product liability, for example, the ''lex loci actus'' would be the place of manufacturing, while the ''lex loci delicti commissi'' would be the place of injury.

''Lex loci arbitri''

The ''lex loci arbitri'' is the

term for "law of the place where

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ...

is to take place" in the

. Conflict is the branch of

regulating all

s involving a "foreign" law element where a difference in result will occur depending on which laws are applied. When a case comes before a

and all the main features of the case are local, the court will apply the ''lex fori'', the prevailing municipal law, to decide the case. But if there are "foreign" elements to the case, the forum court may be obliged under the conflict of laws system to consider: *whether the forum court has

to hear the case (see the problem of forum shopping); *it must then characterise the issues, i.e. allocate the factual basis of the case to its relevant legal classes; and *then apply the

rules to decide which law is to be applied to each class. The ''lex loci arbitri'' is an element in the choice of law rules applied to cases testing the validity of a

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

. As an aspect of the

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

freedom of contract Freedom of contract is the process in which individuals and groups form contracts without government restrictions. This is opposed to government regulations such as minimum-wage laws, competition laws, economic sanctions, restrictions on pri ...

, the parties to an agreement are free to include a forum selection clause and/or a choice of law clause and, unless there is a lack of bona fides, these clauses will be considered valid. If there is no express selection of a proper law, the courts will usually take the nomination of a forum as a "connecting factor", i.e. a fact that links a case to a specific geographical location. For these purposes, one of the "forums" that may be selected is arbitration. Hence, the fact that the parties have chosen a state as the place of arbitration is an indication that parties may have intended the local law to apply. This indication will be weighed alongside other connecting factors. The state that has the largest number of connecting factors will be the '' lex causae'' applied to resolve the dispute between the parties. If there is a tie, the connecting factors which relate to performance will be given a greater weighting.

''Lex loci celebrationis''

''Lex loci celebrationis'' is a

term for a legal principle in English common law, roughly translated as "the law of the land (''lex loci'') where the marriage was celebrated". It refers to the validity of the union, independent of the laws of marriage of the countries involved: where the two individuals have legal nationality or citizenship, or where they live (reside or are domiciled). The assumption under the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

is that such a marriage, when lawfully and validly celebrated under the relevant law of the land, is also lawful and valid.

British legal tradition

In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, the jurisdiction of England, or England and Wales, as well as in many other legal jurisdictions largely or partly following the British tradition of jurisprudence, in addition to their modified local versions of the English common law, the legal principle behind the legal term was modified, qualified and further elaborated, both by legal developments in the common law ( Lord Dunedin's '' Berthiaume v D'Astous'' case ( HL 1930) ( AC 79), in which Dunedin in the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords ruled that "If a marriage is good by the laws of the country where it is effected, it is good all the world over, no matter whether the proceedings or ceremony which constituted marriage according to the law of the place would not constitute marriage in the country of the domicile of one or other of the spouses. If the so-called marriage is no marriage in the place where it is celebrated, there is no marriage anywhere, although the ceremonial proceedings if conducted in the place of the parties’ domicile would be considered a good marriage"), as well as by codification by Statute ( Foreign Marriage Act 1892, 55 & 56 Vict., ''Chapter 23''). Under the English common law, whether a party needs to be present is treated as a formality of the marriage ceremony, so if a

proxy marriage A proxy wedding or proxy marriage is a wedding in which one or both of the individuals being united are not physically present, usually being represented instead by other persons. If both partners are absent a double proxy wedding occurs. Marriag ...

is valid by the law of the place where the marriage was celebrated then it will be recognised in England.

''Lex loci contractus''

In the

, the ''lex loci contractus'' is the

term for "law of the place where the contract is made".

''Lex loci delicti commissi''

The ''lex loci delicti commissi'' or ''lex loci delictus'' is the

term for "law of the place where the delict ortwas committed" in the

. Conflict of laws is the branch of law regulating all

s involving a "foreign" law element where a difference in result will occur depending on which laws are applied. The term is often shortened to ''lex loci delicti''.

''Lex loci protectionis'' (Schutzlandprinzip)

''Lex loci protectionis'' (Latin: " helaw of the place where the protection is laimed) is a

rule applied to cases concerning the infringement of

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

(IP) rights, such as

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

s or

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s. It stipulates that the law applied to such cases is the law of the ''locus protectionis'', that is, the law of the country for which legal protection for the intellectual property is claimed. Consequently, the law of the country where the intellectual property was created or registered is not applied. ''Lex loci protectionis'' is generally accepted as the prevailing choice of law rule for IP rights, at least as concerns the existence, validity, scope and duration of the rights. Article 8 (1) of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

's Rome II Regulation codifies it as follows:

''Lex loci rei sitae'' (or ''Lex situs'')

''Lex loci rei sitae'' (

for "law of the place where the property is situated"), or simply ''lex situs'', is the doctrine that the law governing the transfer of title to property is dependent upon and varies with the location of the property, for the purposes of the

. Conflict is the branch of

regulating all

s involving a "foreign" law element if a difference in result will occur, depending on which laws are applied.

''Lex loci solutionis''

''Lex loci solutionis'' (

: "law of the place of performance"), in

, is the law applied in the place of an event. ''Lex loci solutionis'' is one of the possible choice of law rules applied to cases that test the validity of a

or that deal with a

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

. For example, if a person domiciled in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and a person habitually resident in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

make a contract by e-mail and agree to meet in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

to research a book, there would be several possibly-relevant choice of law rules: * the '' lex domicilii'', '' lex patriae'' or the law of habitual residence to determine whether the parties had the capacity to enter into the contract; * '' lex loci contractus'', which could be difficult to establish since both parties never left their own state (reliance on postal rules for offer and acceptance in the several putative '' lex causae'' might produce different results) * ''lex loci solutionis'' might be the most relevant since Arizona is the most closely connected to the substance of the obligations assumed * the proper law * ''lex fori'', which might have

issues if one of the parties is a minor.

''Lex patriae''

''Lex patriae'' (

: ''law of the fatherland'', in modern usage, ''

nationality law Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, that defines the legal manner in which a national identity is acquired and how it may be lost. In international law, the legal means to acquire nationality and f ...

''), in

, is the system of

applied to a

if a choice is to be made between two or more laws that would change the outcome.

''Locus in quo''

''Locus in quo'' means, in British

, the "scene of the event", or The phrase comes from the

language, meaning "The place in which". In law, ''locus in quo'' refers to "the place where the cause of action arose", that is, the land to which the

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisd ...

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, woundi ...

ed. It may also be used, more generally, as any place mentioned, that is, the venue or place mentioned.Bartleby's
citing E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898).

References

{{Italic title

External links

The Rome II Regulation
relating to ''Lex loci protectionis'' Latin legal terminology Conflict of laws

General principles

''Lex causae''

''lex domicilii''

''Lex fori''

''Lex loci actus''

''Lex loci arbitri''

''Lex loci celebrationis''

British legal tradition

''Lex loci contractus''

''Lex loci delicti commissi''

''Lex loci protectionis'' (Schutzlandprinzip)

''Lex loci rei sitae'' (or ''Lex situs'')

''Lex loci solutionis''

''Lex patriae''

''Locus in quo''

See also

References

External links