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58 Mich. L. Rev. 637 (1959-1960)
Lex Fori--Basic Rule in the Conflict of Laws

handle is hein.journals/mlr58 and id is 649 raw text is: MICHIGAN LAW REVIEW Vol. 58 MARCH 1960 No. 5 THE LEX FORI- BASIC RULE IN THE CONFLICT OF LAWS Albert A. Ehrenzweig* A. LEx Fo~i: EXCEPTION OR RULE? O NCE a court has taken jurisdiction, it will usually apply its own law, unless the parties' own choice or an important foreign fact, such as a foreign domicile, a foreign situs, or a foreign conduct, appears to require application of another law. Most judges and lawyers will agree with this simple proposition-and yet text books, class notes, the Restatement, and even much lan- guage of the courts, would have it otherwise: foreign domicile, foreign situs, foreign conduct and other foreign contacts are said a priori to require application of a foreign law, unless the court can be persuaded for special reasons to turn to its own law or to the law chosen by the parties. This blatant discrepancy between the actual doing of the courts and official theory in the law of conflict of laws has made an awesome mystery or an object of ridi- cule of this subject in the eyes of many. The time has come for a stock taking and re-evaluation of accepted techniques in the light of practical needs, history and comparison. * Walter Perry Johnson Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley. Note. The following works (treatises and articles) will be referred to herein only by the names of their authors: BATIFFOL, TRAArrl ]LPMENTAIRE DE DROrr INTERNATIONAL PRIVA, 2d ed. (1955); BE.ALE, A TREATISE ON THE CONFLICT OF LAWS OR PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAw (1916); CH.SHMa, PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW, 5th ed. (1957); DicEY, CONFLICT OF LAws, 7th ed. (1958); EHRENZWEIG, CONFLICT OF LAws (1959); FALCONBRmCE, ESSAYS ON Tim CONFLICT OF LAWS, 2d ed. (1954); GAMILLSCHEG, Dan EINFLUSS DUMOULrNS AUF DE ENTWICKLUNG DES KoLLISlONSR.ECiM (1955); Gutzwiller, Le dfveloppment historique du droit international privd, 29 Racua.m DES Coups 289 at 298 (1929). LAINA, INTRODUCTION AU DRorr INTERNATIONAL PRIVA (1888); Meijers, L'Histoire des principes fondamentaux au droit international priv6 A partir du moyen Age, 49 RECUEIL DES COURS 547 (1934); NaU- MEYER, DIE GEMEINRECHTLICHE ENTWICKELUNG DES INTERNATIONALEN PRIVAT-UND STRAFRECIITS W, BARTOLUS (1901, 1916); NiEDEREn, EINFi)HRUNG IN DIE ALLEMEINEN LENREN DES INTER- NATIONALEN PRIVATRECHTS (1954); NUSSBAUM, PRINCIPLES OF PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAw (1943); QuADRI, LEzIONI Di Dinrrro INTERNAZIONALE PRIVATO, 2d ed. (1958); STORY, CoM- MaNTARIES ON THE CONFUzcr oF LAws (1834); WoLFF, PRIVATa INTERNATIONAL LAW, 2d ed. (1950). I am indebted to Professor Rodolfo de Nova for many valuable suggestions offered during the completion of my research at the University of Pavia.-AA.E.

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