Principles of Conflict of Laws (Principles of Law Series)

509 Pages·1999·1.693 MB·English

by  Abala Mayss

Principles of
Conflict of
Laws
Cavendish
Publishing
Limited
London(cid:127)Sydney
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
PRINCIPLES OF LAW SERIES
ProfessorPaulDobson
VisitingProfessoratAngliaPolytechnicUniversity
ProfessorNigelGravells
ProfessorofEnglishLaw,NottinghamUniversity
ProfessorPhillipKenny
ProfessorandHeadoftheLawSchool,NorthumbriaUniversity
ProfessorRichardKidner
ProfessorandHeadoftheLawDepartment,UniversityofWales,
Aberystwyth
In order to ensure that the material presented by each title maintains the
necessary balance between thoroughness in content and accessibility in
arrangement, each title in the series has been read and approved by an
independent specialist under the aegis of the Editorial Board. The Editorial
Boardoverseesthedevelopmentoftheseriesasawhole,ensuringaconformity
inallthesevitalaspects.
Principles of
Conflict of
Laws
Abla J Mayss, LLM, PhD, Licence en Droît
Lecturer in Law
University of Liverpool
Cavendish
Publishing
Limited
London(cid:127)Sydney
FirstpublishedinGreatBritain1994byCavendishPublishingLimited,The
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ThistitlewaspreviouslypublishedundertheLectureNotesseries.
©Mayss,A1999
Firstedition1994
Secondedition1996
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical,photocopying,recording,scanningorotherwise,exceptunderthe
termsoftheCopyrightDesignsandPatentsAct1988orunderthetermsofa
licenceissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,90TottenhamCourtRoad,
LondonW1P9HE,UK,withoutthepermissioninwritingofthepublisher.
Mayss,AblaJ
Principlesofconflictoflaws—3rded—(Principlesoflawseries)
1.Conflictoflaws
I.Title
340.9
1859414605
PrintedandboundinGreatBritain
PREFACE
Thelawinthefieldofconflictoflawsisconstantlydevelopingandchanging.
Sincethesecondeditionofthisbook,anumberofimportantchanges,bothin
terms of courts’ decisions and statutory provisions, have taken place. The
objectofthepresenteditionofthisbookistwofold:first,totakeaccountof,
and incorporate, these changes; and, secondly, to re-arrange a number of
chaptersinanattempttomakeanotoriouslydifficultareaoflawmorereader
friendly.Thus,Chapters2and3,bothofwhichdealwiththejurisdictionof
theEnglishcourtincivilandcommercialmatters,havebeenre-writtentothe
effectthatChapter2nowdealssolelywiththecommonlawrulesandChapter
3examinestherulesundertheBrusselsandLuganoConventions.Chapter6,
entitled ‘Choice of Law in Tort’, has been largely revised to discuss those
common law rules which remain applicable to the tort of defamation, and
now deals more fully with Part III of the Private International Law
(MiscellaneousProvisions)Act1995.Chapters10and11onFamilyLawhave
been greatly amended to take account of the changes brought about by the
FamilyLawAct1996andtomakethiscomplicatedareaoflaweasiertoread
andunderstand.Theremainingchaptershavebeenrevisedandamendedto
take due consideration of new developments in the context of both the
commonlawandvariousrecentstatutoryprovisions.
IamgratefultomycolleaguesintheFacultyofLawattheUniversityof
Liverpoolforsparingmethetimetodiscussanumberofissueswiththem,
andtothestudentsthere.IamalsogratefultotheeditorialteamatCavendish
Publishing Ltd for their patience and understanding; and to the Editorial
Board,fortheirhelpfulcommentsonthetextofthisbook.
Ihavetriedtostatethelawasitstoodon15September1998,althoughit
hasbeenpossibletoincludesomelaterdevelopments.
AblaMayss
UniversityofLiverpool
December1998
v

CONTENTS
Preface v
TableofAppendices xvii
TableofCases xix
TableofUKLegislation xxxiii
TableofEuropeanLegislation xxxvii
TableofOtherLegislation xli
TableofAbbreviations xliii
1 NATUREANDSCOPEOFCONFLICTOFLAWS 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1.1 Jurisdiction 1
1.1.2 Choiceoflaw 1
1.1.3 Recognitionandenforcementofjudgments 1
1.2 PRELIMINARYISSUES 2
1.2.1 Privateandpublicinternationallaw 2
1.2.2 Connectingfactors 3
1.2.3 Theconceptofpersonallaw 4
1.3 THEBASESOFCONFLICTOFLAWS 4
1.3.1 Justice 4
1.3.2 Comity 5
1.3.3 Publicpolicy 5
1.4 CLASSIFICATIONORCHARACTERISATION 6
1.4.1 Classificationofthecauseofaction 6
1.4.2 Classificationofaruleoflaw 7
1.5 RENVOI 8
1.5.1 Singleorpartialrenvoi 9
1.5.2 Doubleortotalrenvoi 9
1.6 PROOFOFFOREIGNLAW 9
SUMMARYOFCHAPTER1 11
2 JURISDICTIONOFTHEENGLISHCOURTIN
COMMERCIALDISPUTES:THECOMMONLAWRULES 13
2.1 INTRODUCTION 13
2.2 DEFENDANTPRESENTWITHINTHEJURISDICTION 14
2.2.1 Individuals 14
2.2.2 Corporations 14
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Principles of Conflict of Laws
2.2.3 Partnerships 16
2.3 SUBMISSIONTOTHEJURISDICTION 16
2.4 DEFENDANTOUTSIDETHEJURISDICTION 16
2.4.1 General 18
2.4.2 Contract 19
2.4.3 Tort 22
2.4.4 Property 22
2.4.5 Otherheads 22
2.5 PREVENTIONOFFORUMSHOPPINGANDTHE
STAYINGOFACTIONS 23
2.5.1 Forumnonconveniens 24
2.5.2 Therelevanceoflisalibipendens 33
2.5.3 Therelevanceofaforeignjurisdictionclause 34
2.6 PREVENTIONOFFORUMSHOPPINGAND
ANTI-SUITINJUNCTIONS 39
SUMMARYOFCHAPTER2 45
3 JURISDICTIONOFTHEENGLISHCOURT
INCOMMERCIALDISPUTES:
THEBRUSSELSANDLUGANOCONVENTIONS 47
3.1 INTRODUCTIONANDBACKGROUND 47
3.2 INTERPRETATIONOFTHECONVENTION 48
3.3 SCOPEOFTHECONVENTION 49
3.4 THECONCEPTOFDOMICILE 51
3.4.1 Domicileofindividuals 51
3.4.2 Domicileofcorporationsandassociations 52
3.5 THEPRIMARYBASISOFJURISDICTION 53
3.6 SPECIALJURISDICTION 55
3.6.1 Contract 55
3.6.2 Tort 58
3.6.3 Restitutionaryclaims 61
3.6.4 Maintenance 63
3.6.5 Civilclaimsincriminalproceedings 65
3.6.6 Branch,agencyorotherestablishment 65
3.6.7 Trusts 67
3.6.8 Salvage 67
viii
Contents
3.6.9 Furtheralternativebasesofjurisdiction 67
3.7 PROTECTIVEMEASURES 68
3.7.1 Individualcontractsofemployment 68
3.7.2 Jurisdictioninmattersrelatingtoinsurance 70
3.7.3 Jurisdictionoverconsumercontracts 72
3.8 EXCLUSIVEJURISDICTION 73
3.9 JURISDICTIONAGREEMENTS 74
3.10 SUBMISSION 78
3.11 LISALIBIPENDENSANDRELATEDACTIONS 79
3.12 JURISDICTIONWITHINTHEUK:THEMODIFIED
CONVENTION 82
SUMMARYOFCHAPTER3 85
4 RECOGNITIONANDENFORCEMENTOF
FOREIGNJUDGMENTS 87
4.1 INTRODUCTION 87
4.2 RECOGNITIONANDENFORCEMENT
ATCOMMONLAW 88
4.2.1 Requirementsforrecognitionandenforcement 89
4.2.2 Jurisdictionoftheforeigncourt 90
4.2.3 Residence 91
4.2.4 Submission 92
4.3 FURTHERREQUIREMENTSFORENFORCEMENT 94
4.3.1 Atcommonlaw 94
4.3.2 AdministrationofJusticeAct1920 97
4.3.3 ForeignJudgments(ReciprocalEnforcement)Act1933 97
4.3.4 Restrictions 98
4.4 DEFENCES 98
4.4.1 Fraud 98
4.4.2 Contrarytonaturaljustice 99
4.4.3 Contrarytopublicpolicy 100
4.4.4 Section32oftheCivilJurisdiction
andJudgmentsAct1982 100
4.4.5 Limitationofactions 102
ix