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Conflict of Laws · Unit 4

Applicable Law — Contracts and Commercial Matters

Unit 4 of Conflict of Laws (syllabus: Module IV — the proper law of the contract and the party autonomy rule; the Rome Convention 1980 (the disk carries no Rome I Regulation); exchange contracts; torts; and the transfer of property, movable and immovable). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.

What this unit covers

  • Why can no single connecting factor govern a contract, and what is the proper law?
  • How far may the parties choose the law governing their contract?
  • How does a court find an implied choice, and what does it do when there is none?
  • What have the Indian courts added to the doctrine of the proper law?
  • What does the proper law govern, and what escapes it?
  • Which systems may make a contract illegal, and what is the position where they disagree?
  • Why is there no party autonomy in the conflicts law of negotiable instruments?
  • What law governs a tort committed abroad, and why has the rule of double actionability failed?

Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.

Provisions

  • Rome Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations 1980, s. Articles 3, 3(3), 5 and 6
  • Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 and Bills of Exchange Act 1882, s. Section 134 of the Negotiable Instruments Act; sections 72(1) and 72(3) of the Bills of Exchange Act

Leading cases

Full case summaries

Exam questions on this unit

In this paper