THE OBJECTIVES OF PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a survey of the salient policies and postulates of conflicts of law. It involves a historical discussion of whether jurisdiction implies the applicable law or, in other words, whether a court can only apply the rules prescribed by its hierarchic superior. The author argues that the local law theory has reduced the historical logic of the private international law to a sterile truism and critiques proposals on how to advance study into the social factors that do or should control choice of law determinations. From there the discussion moves into an inquiry on the underlying private international law. Instead of examining every method of arriving at the applicable law, it is suggested that the essential policy considerations specific to conflicts of laws fall under two headings: security and comparative justice of the end result.