Conflict of law Flashcards
“most-significant-relationship” approach
TRADITIONAL
Second Restatement
(2 of 3)
- Promotion of relevant policies of forum and any interested state
- Certainty, Uniformity, Predictability, Simplicity
- Protecting justified expectations of parties (planned transaction like contracts)
- ESPECIALLY FOR FAMILY LAW
“vested-rights” approach
First Restatement
(1 of 3)
territorial approach
jurisdiction where parties’s rights are vested (where act that gives rise to cause of action occurred)
generally, where last liable event took place.
“governmental-interest” approach
3 of 3
presume forum will apply own law, unless:
- -false conflict: forum has no interest in litigation = then applies law of state that does have interest in case.
- -true conflict: forum and another state have interest = then review state policy and if cannot resolve then apply forum.
- -unprovided for: apply forum.
States have interest when applying
A. Conduct relating laws (regulate conduct) in state or affects domiciliary.
B. loss-shifting laws (immunize) when benefits domiciliary
Depecage
application of diff states laws to different issues within a case
renvio
when applies law of other state, applies WHOLE law of other state, including state choice of law. Hence, only applied for PROPERTY.
Immovable property governed by __
law of the situs of property
tangible movable property governed by __
law of state in which property was located at time of transaction
movable property at at death governed by __
law of decedents domicile at death
validity of marriage determined by __
law of place where marriage was celebrated
states may recognized incidents of marriage if marriage __
even if marriage not recognized in that state
Marital interests in moveable property are generally governed by __
law of the state where the couple was domiciled at the time the property was acquired.
corporate affairs governed by __
vested-rights approach: state of incorporation governs
- corporation structure
- shareholder rights
- internal corporate affairs
most-significant-relationship
-same result; state of incorporation governs
(gray areas) that are substantive, not procedural
- parole evidence
- confidentiality privileges
- damages cap
- statute of limitations
- -under First: generally procedural, unless inextricably bound with a statutory right
- -under Second: forum state generally applies its own statute of limitations.
Constitution application
Under Constitution, state may apply its own law to an issue, only if has “SIGNIFICANT CONTACT or AGGREGATION OF CONTACTS with the issue, such that a choice of its law is NEITHER arbitrary or fundamentally unfair.”
“and those contacts exist here because ….”
Under the Erie doctrine, a federal court exercising diversity jurisdiction must apply
substantive law in state in which it sits