CONFLICTS RULES

The division of the world into territorial units xxx creates for the lawyer a
host of problems. In the international sphere, where one State is a member
of the community of nations, two distinct but related sets of questions arise.
One concerns controversies directly between nations, as, over boundaries,
over ambassadors and their privileges, over armed forces. The body of law
directed to them is Public International Law. The second set of questions
concerns cases between individuals engaged in private transactions, with
relationships or contacts in two or more nations. So an oral agreement for
the sale of goods made in England by a Frenchman and a Canadian to be
performed in the United States may raise questions as to its validity or
enforcement. The controversies between individuals, not those primarily
between nations or states, are the concern of this paper. Conflict of Laws or,
as it is sometimes called, Private International Law, is the law principally
directed to the transactions between individuals sketched above, whether
inter- or intra-national. 1

Part 1- Conflicts of Laws

Conflict of laws is a set of rules of procedural law which determine
the legal system and the law of jurisdiction applying to a given
legal dispute. The question to be asked by one concerned with
conflict of laws is: "what law should be applied to the case
at hand?" The process by which a court determines what law to
apply is sometimes referred to as "characterization", or
"classification." This determination must be made in accordance
with the law of the forum.

Outline indicating the exact place of Conflict of Laws:

I. International Law
II. National Law
i. Local law or Domestic/Internal rules
ii. Private International Law or Conflict of laws

Relationship of Private International Law to International

Law
The system of laws, known as conflict of laws or private
international law, is administered by national courts and is a part
of the national system of administration of justice. Nevertheless,
in the discharge of this duty the national courts fulfill an
international function analogous to that fulfilled by prize courts,

1 SOURCES OF RULES FOR CONFLICT OF LAWS, ELLIOTT E. CHEATHAM

which are national courts. . . . The rule applied is, it is true, a part
of the national system of law, but the obligation to apply the rule
identical with that of the foreign jurisdiction is none the less an
international law obligation which rests upon the state." 2

Examples:
Article 16, Civil Code of the Philippines
Real property as well as personal property is subject to the
law of the country where it is situated

Law Of The Application Of Law For Foreign-Related Civil

Relations Of The Peoples Republic Of China:
Article 36, The laws at the locality of immovables shall
apply to the right to immovables
Article 34 The laws at the locality of an estate shall apply to
the administration of estates and related issues.

Difference between internal rules and conflict rules

I. As to purpose: Internal Rules authorize, command or
prohibit a certain mode of conduct, whereas Conflict
rules provides which law or rules will be applicable to a
certain question
II. As to Effect: the legal effects of internal rules are
immediately indicated unlike in conflict rules.

Parts of Conflicts Rule

I. Object / Operative Facts
II. Point of Contact/The Legal Consequences of the
operative facts stated in the 1st part are determined in
the second part.

Example:
Article 16, Civil Code of the Philippines
2 STOWELL, INTERNATIONAL LAW (1931) 299-300. See also I LORIMER, INSTITUTES
OF THE LAW OF NATIONS (1883) 350 et seq. Cf. J. G. Starke, The Relation Between
Private and Public International Law (1936) 52 L. Q. REv. 395. For a care- ful analysis
by a writer supporting an international obligation as to a part of the field, see
Farrelly, The Basis of Private International Law (1893) 4 L. Q. REv. 242.
Real property as well as personal property OBJECT
is subject to the law of the country where it is situated Point of Contact

Test Factors or Points in Contact

Test factors are the circumstances which may serve as a basis for
the determination of the applicable law.
Examples
I. The Nationality of a person, his domicile, residence,
origin
II. Place of business / seat of a legal or juridical person
III. Lex situs when real rights are involved
IV. Locus Actus place where the act has been done
applicable to contracts
V. Place where an act is intended to come into effect
VI. Lex loci intentionis intention of parties as to what law
should govern
VII. Lex Fori Place where the proceedings are done
VIII. Flag of a ship

As long as our conflict rules point to a geographical location as

the source of the applicable law, we cannot escape at least 2
pervasive problems namely, the problem of characterization and
the problem of renvoi.

Part 2. The Problem of Characterization

As an instrument of social control, law has to deal with facts. These factual situations sought
to be regulated are put in abstract legal categories. To a lawyer or judge it is almost an
automatic process, when confronted with a legal problem, to place any factual situation
under its appropriate branch of law.

Characterization
Characterization (classification/qualification) is the process of
assigning a disputed question to its correct legal category. This
sounds simple enough but in practice according to Dean
Prossers description, it is a dismal swamp, filled with quaking
quagmires..

3 Stages in Characterization
I. Problem Classification
 a. On the grounds of practical necessity and convenience,
it is the forum which must decide what the nature of
the relationship is.
b. The difficulty arises from the fact that a conflicts
situation or a legal relation may be classified by the lex
fori in a way which may be different from the
characterization of the lex causae.
c. Example: A beautiful English Bachelor died domiciled in
the Philippines, leaving a huge cock of share in a New
York Corporation. A question arises in the
administration proceedings as to whether the
administrator should sell part of the shares to pay the
outstanding debts of the deceased as required by
Philippine laws, or whether the sale could be deferred
under internal English Law. Is this a matter of
Administration to be governed by the Philippine law, or
succession, governed by the English Law?

II. Point of Contact

a. The connecting factor should be determined by the law
of the forum

III. Delimination
a. Apply the selected proper law to the factual situation.

Characterization of a rule of law Procedural and

Substantive
The question of how far and to what extend the proper foreign law
should be made to apply in the forum brings us to one of the most
common problems of characterization the determination of
whether a particular rule of law is PROCEDURAL or
SUBSTANTIVE

Part 3. Renvoi

Part 4. CASE LAW

In re: Testate Estate of Edward Chistensen

Aznar v. Garcia

Bellis v. Bellis

Saudi Arabia Airlines v. Court of Appeals

Llorente v. Court of Appeals.