CONFLICT OF LAWS

International Law – the rules and principles of general application dealing with the conduct of the states and of international
organizations and with their relations inter se, as well as with some of their relations with persons, wether natural or juridical.

I. Introduction to Conflict of Laws/ Private international Law

A. Scope: Nature, Definition and Importance

 Scope:
 Embraces cases or situations where a foreign element is involved
 A factual situation that cuts across territorial lines and is affected by diverse laws of two or more States is said
to contain a foreign element.

 Nature:
 Municipal Law or private law of each state which regulates relations of individuals among themselves or with
their state
 It is the law of the forum that furnishes the yardstick for the presence or absence of jurisdiction

 Definition
 Is that part of the municipal law of the state which directs its courts and administrative agencies, when
confronted with a legal problem involving a foreign element, whether or not, they should apply a foreign law or
foreign laws (Paras).

 Importance
1) to adjust conflicting rights in international, mercantile and corporate transactions; and
2) to solve personal, family, property and successional contractual problems, possessed of facts or elements
operating in two or more states

 Object and Function

 Is to provide rational and valid rules or guidelines in deciding cases not only by courts but also by administrative
agencies and public officers who are called upon to act on a given situation where either or all the parties,
event or transaction are linked to more than one jurisdiction.

 Functions
According to Paras
1) the determination of which country has jurisdiction
2) the applicability to a particular case of either the local or the foreign law
3) the determination of the force, validity and effectiveness of a foreign judgment

According to Coquia
1) to proscribe the conditions under which a court or agency is competent to entertain a suit or proceeding
involving facts containing a foreign element;
2) to determine the extent, validity and enforceability of foreign judgment;
3) to determine for each class of cases the particular system if law by reference to which the rights of the parties
must be ascertained