DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

Conflict of Laws
SYNOPSIS on
DOMICILE AND RESIDENCE- CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS

Submitted to:- Submitted by:-

Dr. Prem Kr. Gautam Ayush Singh

Assistant Professor (Law) Roll no. -140101048

Sem VIII
INTRODUCTION

Domicile (the lex domicilii) has a dominating role in family and matrimonial property law and a
role in other areas such as capacity of persons to make contracts. It plays a part also in the law of
taxation. Domicile cannot be defined with precision Whicker v Hume defined domicile as
‘permanent home’. However, you will find many reported cases where a person has lived in a
place for 30 or 40 years and has not been held to have acquired a domicile there. After reading
the cases listed above you may conclude that the persons in question (such a person is often
called the propositus) had permanent homes in England, but in none of the four cases was a
domicile acquired in England.

In most systems of the conflict of laws the notion of “belonging to” a country in some string
sense is of great importance: it identifies an individual’s personal laws which governs the
questions concerning personal and proprietarily relationship between the family. Place of birth is
an adequate criterion by which to identify personal law. In England and other common law
countries it is the law of domicile.

Domicile connects a person with the law of a country. The object of determining a person’s
domicile is to connect that person with some legal system for some legal purposes. To establish
such connection it is sufficient to prove the domicile of that “country” in the sense of the conflict
of laws e.g. England, Scotland, or New York. It is not necessary in which part of the country he
is domiciled. A person who emigrates e.g. to the UK with the intention of settling in England or
Scotland, only acquires a new domicile by deciding in which country to settle and by actually
settling there.

Residence means the place where one actually lives, as distinguished from a domicile. Residence
must be bona fide residence. ‘Residence’ means physical presence ‘as an inhabitant’ (IRC v
Duchess of Portland ) It is not necessary that residence should be of long duration but there had
been decisions where it was held that even a part of a day was enough. An immigrant can acquire
a domicile immediately on arrival if he or she intends to settle.

The term ‘residence’ is often found in the Hague Conventions and often makes its way into
English law through this route. The Hague Conventions do not define ‘habitual residence’. The
Court of Appeal has said that it is primarily a question of fact to be decided by reference to the
circumstances of each particular case

LITERATURE REVIEW

The paper is illustrative in nature and not exhaustive, with reference to DOMICILE AND
RESIDENCE.

METHODOLOGY
Method of Study has majorly been doctrinal, though pragmatic approach is strived.

SCOPE OF STUDY
With structure of Legal system at its pivot, researcher has tried to include all significant facets of
the DOMICILE AND RESIDENCE. The researcher limited his research and writing to the
literature at hand.

PLAN OF STUDY

The tentative chapterisation

 Introduction
 DOMICILE AND RESIDENCE
 Judicial System
 Basic structure
 Fundemantal process
 Conclusion
  Bibliography

SOURCES

Books:

1. Dicey and Morris: Conflict of Laws; 14thedn, Sweet and Maxwell, London, 2007

2. A. G. Gupte, Law of Marriage and Divorce, 1st edition, Premier Publishing Company,
Allahabad (2007),

3. H. K. Saharay, Laws of Marriage and Divorce, 5th edition, Eastern Law House, Kolkata
(2007)

4. Cheshire and North’s Private International Law, 13th edition, Butterworths, London
(1999)

5. ParasDiwan, Private International Law, 4th edition, Deep & Deep Publications, New
Delhi (1998),

Reports:

1. 224th Report of Law Commission of India, June 2009

2. 15th Report of the Law Commission (1960)