Private International Law Notes | B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Semester 7 | SPPU | munotes

Contents

Module 01 Introduction

1. What Private International Law Is 1
2. The Name and the Nature of the Subject 6
3. The History of the Conflict of Laws 10
4. Private International Law in the Indian Statutes 16
5. The Scope of Private International Law 21
6. The Statute Theory 27
7. The Theory of Comity 32
8. The Theory of Vested Rights 37
9. The Local Law Theory 41
10. Savigny's Seat of the Legal Relationship and Mancini's Theory of Nationality 44
11. The Modern American Approaches 49
12. The Theories Compared, and the Indian Position 53
13. The Sources of Private International Law 57
14. Proving Foreign Law 62
15. Public Policy and Foreign Status 68
16. Foreign Penal, Revenue and Other Public Laws 74
17. Public International Law in Outline: Sources, States and Treaties 80

Module 02 Classification / characterization

1. What Characterisation Is 88
2. The Theories of Characterisation 94
3. Characterisation in the Cases 100
4. The Stages of Analysis in a Conflict Case 108
5. The Connecting Factor 113
6. Which Law Interprets the Connecting Factor, and When 119
7. The Lex Causae 125
8. The Scope of the Lex Causae 129
9. Renvoi: The Problem 134
10. The Forms of Renvoi and Their Criticism 139
11. Renvoi in the Cases 145
12. Where Renvoi Applies, Where It Does Not, and the Indian Position 152
13. Substance and Procedure 158
14. Limitation, Priorities and Other Borderline Questions 164
15. Depecage 169
16. The Incidental Question 174

Module 03 Concept of Domicile

1. Domicile as the Deciding Factor 180
2. The Concept of Domicile 187
3. Domicile of Origin 193
4. Domicile of Choice: Residence and Intention 198
5. Domicile of Choice: Special Cases and Abandonment 204
6. The Domicile of Married Women 210
7. The Domicile of Minors and Persons of Unsound Mind 214
8. Commercial Domicile and the Domicile of Corporations 220
9. Domicile in the Indian Succession Act: Sections 4 to 9 225
10. Acquiring a New Domicile: Sections 10 to 13 229
11. Dependent Domicile: Sections 14 to 19 234
12. Domicile in the Constitution and the Supreme Court 238
13. Nationality and Habitual Residence 244

Module 04 Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage

1. Marriage: Formal and Essential Validity 249
2. Formal Validity: Lex Loci Celebrationis and Its Exceptions 256
3. Capacity to Marry 263
4. Polygamous Marriages 272
5. The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969: Sections 1 to 16 280
6. The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969: Sections 17 to 30 286
7. Family Matters with a Foreign Element: The Indian Framework 293
8. Jurisdiction of Indian Courts in Matrimonial Causes 298
9. Choice of Law in Matrimonial Causes 303
10. Jurisdiction in Private International Law 308
11. In Personam Jurisdiction in India 313
12. In Personam Jurisdiction at Common Law: Presence and Submission 321
13. The Immunity of Foreign States 327
14. Parallel Proceedings and Anti-Suit Injunctions 337
15. NRI Marriages 344
16. Matrimonial Causes: The Reliefs 349
17. Recognition of Foreign Divorces in English Law 357
18. Recognition of Foreign Divorces in India 363

Module 05 Legitimacy, Legitimation and Adoption

1. Legitimacy 369
2. Legitimation 374
3. Adoption with a Foreign Element 379
4. Inter-Country Adoption in India 384
5. The Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention, 1993 390
6. Guardianship with a Foreign Element 397
7. Child Custody Across Borders and the Welfare Principle 406
8. International Child Abduction and the Indian Courts 411
9. The Hague Child Abduction Convention, 1980 417
10. The Hague Conference on Private International Law 423
11. The Hague Conventions and India 428
12. The Hague Choice of Court Convention 2005 and Judgments Convention 2019 433

Module 06 Foreign Judgments

1. Why Foreign Judgments Are Recognised 439
2. The Limits on Recognition and Enforcement 446
3. Section 13: When a Foreign Judgment Is Conclusive 453
4. Section 13, Clauses (a) to (c): Jurisdiction, Merits and Indian Law 460
5. Section 13, Clauses (d) to (f): Natural Justice, Fraud and Breach of Indian Law 467
6. Section 14 and Proving a Foreign Judgment 473
7. Section 44A: Executing a Decree from a Reciprocating Territory 478
8. The Suit on a Foreign Judgment 484
9. Judgments in Rem: Section 41 of the Evidence Act and Section 35 of the Sakshya Adhiniyam 492
10. Foreign Awards: Why Part II Has Two Chapters, and What a Convention Does 498
11. New York Convention Awards: Definition, Reference to Arbitration, and When an Award Binds 504
12. Section 48: The Grounds for Refusing a Foreign Award, and the Narrow Public Policy Test 509
13. Enforcing a Foreign Award in India: Procedure, Appeals and Savings 516

Module 07 Law of Property

1. Property and the Lex Situs 521
2. Movables: Transfer of Goods and Assignment of Debts 527
3. Agreements With Foreign Countries 533
4. Succession with a Foreign Element 536

Module 08 Contract and Tort Law

1. The Proper Law of the Contract 542
2. Express Choice of Law and Its Limits 547
3. Implied Choice and the Closest and Most Real Connection 552
4. From the Rome Convention to Rome I 558
5. Rome I: Freedom of Choice 563
6. Rome I: The Applicable Law in the Absence of Choice 568
7. Rome I: Carriage, Consumer, Insurance and Employment Contracts 572
8. Rome I: Overriding Mandatory Provisions, Public Policy and the Reach of the Applicable Law 576
9. Transnational Contracts in Indian Law 580
10. Capacity to Contract 585
11. Formal and Material Validity of Contracts 590
12. Interpretation, Performance and Discharge 596
13. The IMF Agreement and Exchange Contracts 603
14. Torts at Common Law: The Rule of Double Actionability 610
15. Torts on Ships, in the Air and Across Borders 620
16. Torts After 1995, and the Indian Position 626
17. Rome II: Scope and the General Rule 631
18. Rome II: Special Torts 636
19. Rome II: Unjust Enrichment, Negotiorum Gestio, Culpa in Contrahendo and the Common Rules 641