Unit 1 of Conflict of Laws (syllabus: Module I — the nature and scope of private international law, its relation to public international law and to municipal law, and the stages of analysis: characterisation, the incidental question, renvoi, and the exclusion of foreign law). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- What brings private international law into operation at all, and what is the first thing an answer must identify?
- What is the nature of private international law, and how does it differ from public international law?
- By what authority does a forum apply a foreign rule, and what do the five theories answer?
- What are the sources of private international law in India, and should the subject be codified?
- What is primary characterisation, by which law is it done, and why does it decide cases?
- What is a connecting factor, and what are the two things that can go wrong with one?
- What is renvoi, how do single and total renvoi differ, and is the doctrine worth having?
- How is the line between substance and procedure drawn, and why is it dangerous?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
Leading cases
- R. Vishwanathan v. Syed Abdul Wajid
- Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkatalakshmi
- De Nicols v. Curlier
- Forgo
- Leroux v. Brown and Ogden v. Ogden
Full case summaries
- R. Vishwanathan v. Syed Abdul Wajid
- Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkatalakshmi
- De Nicols v. Curlier
- Forgo
- Re Annesley
- Re Ross
- Collier v. Rivaz
- Huber v. Steiner
- De la Vega v. Vianna
- Leroux v. Brown
- Ogden v. Ogden
- The Christina
- Trendtex Trading Corporation v. Central Bank of Nigeria
- The Rose Mary
- Satya v. Teja Singh
- NTPC v. Singer Company
- Re R