- Lex loci contractus
The lex loci contractus is the
Latin term for "law of the place where the contract is made" in theConflict of Laws . Starr Printing Co. v. Air Jamaica, 45 F.Supp.2d. 625 (1999 U.S. Dist.). Conflict is the branch ofpublic law regulating alllawsuit s involving a "foreign" law element where a difference in result will occur depending on which laws are applied.Explanation
When a case comes before a
court and all the main features of the case are local, the court will apply the "lex fori ", the prevailing municipallaw , to decide the case. But if there are "foreign" elements to the case, the forum court may be obliged under the Conflict of Laws system to consider:
*whether the forum court hasjurisdiction to hear the case (see the problem offorum shopping );
*it must then characterise the issues, i.e. allocate the factual basis of the case to its relevant legal classes; and
*then apply thechoice of law rules to decide which law is to be applied to each class.The "lex loci contractus" is one of the possible choice of law rules applied to cases testing the validity of a contract. For example, suppose that a person domiciled inCanada and a person habitually resident inFrance , make a contract by e-mail. They agree to meet inNew York State to record a CD ofhip hop music . The possibly relevant choice of law rules would be:
*thelex domicilii and law of habitual residence to determine whether the parties had the capacity to enter into the contract;
*the "lex loci contractus" which could be difficult to establish since neither party left their own states (reliance on postal rules foroffer and acceptance in the several putativelex causae might produce different results);
*thelex loci solutionis might be the most relevant since New York is the most closely connected to the substance of the obligations assumed;
*theproper law ; and
*the "lex fori" which might have public policy issues if, say, one of the parties was an infant.See also
*
Lex loci arbitri
*Lex loci celebrationis
*Lex loci delicti commissi
*Lex situs
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