CL1209 | Conflict of Laws

Each country’s legal system reflects its society’s values. Worldwide, and within individual countries, there exist different legal traditions, different substantive rules, and different systems of private law, all of which are administered by the national judicial systems subject to different rules and traditions of procedure. Such diversity may create difficulties in many legal situations, such as marriage, decedents’ estates, complex international contracts, torts, and business transactions that are not confined to a single country or jurisdiction. Conflict of Laws or (Private International Law) means a collection of standards and rules that allows the resolution of problems resulting from such diversity of courts and law. The term Conflict of Law (or private international law) refers to a set of procedural rules that determines which legal system and which jurisdiction applies to a given dispute. In modern times, almost all large commercial contracts have a foreign element and raise “conflict of law” issues which may at times gravitate towards multi-jurisdictional litigation or arbitration. Thus, it is crucial that a modern lawyer is acquainted with the principles of private international law to be effective in cross border litigation in a rapidly globalising world.

Broadly, the syllabus would consist of Indian and foreign case laws, and topical texts illustrating the law and relevant issues for a lawyer doing inter-jurisdictional litigation. Conflicts law must address three principal questions. First, when a legal issue involves the jurisdiction of more than one country, it must be determined which court should have the authority to adjudicate the matter (choice of court). Second, once a court has taken jurisdiction, it must decide what substantive law it should apply to the question before it (choice of law). Third, once the decision comes into being, conflicts law must address the enforcement of the judgment (enforcement of foreign judgment). The “Conflict of Law” course is an elective offered primarily to BA. LLB, LLB and LLM students. Pedagogically the course shall invoke the Socratic method of study through extensive case analysis and theoretical applications.