Cases on Private International Law

Excerpt from Cases on Private International Law

Most of the cases which occupy an English Court are in every respect of a purely English character; the parties are English-men, and the cause of action arises wholly in England, as where A, a London tradesman, sues X, a citizen of London, for the price of goods sold and delivered in London. When this is so, every act done, or alleged to be done, by either of the parties clearly depends for its legal character on the ordinary rules of English law.

Cases, however, frequently come before our Courts which contain sonic foreign element; the parties, one or both of them, may be of foreign nationality, as where an Italian sues a French-man for the price of goods sold and delivered at Liverpool; the cause of action, or ground of dcfence, may depend upon transactions taking place wholly or in part in a foreign country; as where A sues X for an assault at Paris, or on a contract made in France and broken in England, or where X pleads in his defence a discharge under the French bankruptcy law; the transactions, lastly, in question, though taking place wholly in England, may, in some way, have reference to the law or customs of a foreign country: this is so, for instance, when A wishes to enforce the trusts of a marriage settlement executed in England, but which on the face of it, or by implication, refers to French or Italian law.

Whenever a case containing any foreign element calls for, decision, the judge before whom it is tried must, either expressly or tacitly, find an answer to, at least, two preliminary questions.

First Question. - Is the case before him one which any English Court has, according to the law of England, a right to determine?

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