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41 S. Cal. L. Rev. 329 (1967-68)
Depecage in the Choice of Tort Law

handle is hein.journals/scal41 and id is 335 raw text is: DEPECAGE IN THE CHOICE OF TORT LAW Christian L. Wilde* I. INTRODUCTION In Lillegraven v. Tengs an Alaska resident brought action for personal injuries sustained in an accident while riding as a passenger in the automobile of the defendant, also an Alaska resident. The accident had taken place in British Columbia. Defendant was not present at the accident, but his car was being operated with his consent at that time. Plaintiff's suit was predicated upon a British Columbia statute which made the owner of a vehicle liable for injuries to third persons arising from the negligence of a driver operating the vehicle with the owner's consent. Alaska had no such statute. The action was timely under Alaska's two-year statute of limitation, but British Columbia's appli- cable twelve-month statute of limitation had run. Choosing a different law for two issues of the same tort claim (i.e., owner's liability and statute of limitation), the Alaska court permitted the plaintiff to recover by combining the British Columbia owner's lia- bility statute-the law of the place of injury-and Alaska's longer statute of limitation. The result is surprising in that neither British Columbia (because its statute of limitation had run) nor Alaska (be- cause it had no owner's liability statute) would have permitted recovery in a purely domestic case.2 Such splitting in the choice-of-law process-combining the rules of two different jurisdictions-has been called d6peqage,18 and is the subject of this article. 0 LL.M., Referendar in GC6ttingen, Germany. This paper was prepared during my stay at the University of California, School of Law, Berkeley, and I am especially indebted to Professor Albert A. Ehrenzweig for his kind guidance and encouragement in this project. 1 375 P.2d 139 (Alaska 1962). 2 Contra, D. CAvERs, Tm CHOIcE-oF-LAiW PRoCEss 41 (1965); Comment, 1963 DUm LJ. 762, 768. 3 The term is derived from the French ddpeqer, meaning to dissect, to take to pieces. See P. LARoUSSE, MODERN FRENcH-ENGLISH DICTIONARY 210 (1960). It has been used in the field of conflict of laws respecting contracts as well as torts. Cf. Lando, The Proper Law of the Contract, 8 SCANDINAvIAN STuDms N LA-w 105 (1964). See also J. 329

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