1

Conflicts of Law
Cocquia, Pangalangan
Chapter I Introduction

Hilton v. Guyot
 2
o Henry Hilton and William Libbey,
residents of New York and trading as co-
partners were sued in France for debts
due to a French firm.
o Gustave Guyot, liquidator of the firm
sued Hilton and Libbey on the French
judgment in the U.S. Circuit Court for
the Southern District of New York
seeking an amount totaling over
195,000 dollars.
o The court held the judgment conclusive
and entered a decree in favor of the
French firm without examination anew
the merits of the case.
o Defendants question the decree on
many grounds, foremost of which was
that French courts gave no force and
effect to the duly rendered judgments of
U.S. courts against French citizens.

o MR. JUSTICE GRAY: “No law has any

effect, of its own force, beyond the
limits of the sovereignty from which its
authority is derived. The extent to which
the law of one nation, as put in force
within its territory, whether by
executive order, by legislative act, or by
judicial decree, shall be allowed to
operate within the dominion of another
 3
nation, depends upon what our greatest
jurists have been content to call “the
comity of nations.”
o “Comity,” in the legal sense, is neither a
matter of absolute obligation, on the
one hand, nor of mere courtesy and
good will, upon the other. But it is the
recognition which one nation allows
within its territory to the legislative,
executive or judicial acts of another
nation, having due regard both to
international duty and convenience,
and to the rights of its own citizens or of
other persons who are under the
protection of its laws…
o It is unnecessary in the case to
determine [whether the French
judgment may be impeached for fraud]
because there is a distinct and
independent ground upon which we are
satisfied that the comity of our nation
does not require us to give conclusive
effect to the judgments of the courts of
France; and that ground is, the want of
reciprocity, on the part of France, as to
the effect to be given to the judgments
of this and other foreign countries.
o The reasonable, if not necessary,
conclusion appears to us to be that
 4
judgments rendered in France, or in any
other foreign country.
 5
Definition
 6
o A common thread running through all
classical definitions of private
international law is that it is that part of
municipal law which governs cases
involving a foreign element. (Private
International Law.)
o The Second Edition of American
Jurisprudence defined conflict of laws as
that part of the law of each state or
nation which determines whether, in
dealing with a legal situation, the law of
some other state or nation will be
recognized, given effect, or applied.
o In Hilton v. Guyot, the U.S. Supreme
Court defined private international law
as “the law concerning the rights of
persons within the territory and
dominion of one nation, by reason of
acts, private or public, done within the
dominion of another nation.
 7
Distinguished From Public International
Law and Other Disciplines
 8
o It is common to distinguish public
international law and private
international law in terms of their
applicability rationae and ratione
materiae. Except in cases involving
violations of human rights, public
international law principally governs
states in their relationships amongst
themselves.
o In contrast, private international law
principally governs individuals in their
private transactions which involve a
foreign element, e.g., cutting across
more than one municipal law
jurisdiction.
o The central distinction therefore lies in
the sources of law.
o Private international law, on the other
hand, is generally derived from the
internal law of each state and not from
any “international” law extraneous to
municipal law.

o …as to persons involved, public

international law governs only states
and internationally recognized
organizations while private
international law governs individuals
and or corporations.
 9
o As to transactions, public international
law involves state-to-state or
government-to-government matters,
while private international law relates
to private transactions between
individuals.
o As to remedies, in case of violation of
international law, a state may resort to
diplomatic protest, peaceful means of
settlement of international disputes
such as diplomatic negotiations,
arbitration or conciliation, or
adjudication by filing a case before
international tribunals. In private
international law, all the remedies are
provided by municipal laws of the state,
such as resort to courts of
administrative tribunals.
 10
Object, Function and Scope
 11
o The object and function of conflict of
laws is to provide rational and valid rules
or guidelines in deciding cases where
either the parties, events or
transactions are linked to more than
one jurisdiction.
o Conflict of law rules aim to promote
stability and uniformity of solutions
provided by the laws and courts of each
state called upon to decide conflicts
cases.