Lex domicilii - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The lex domicilii is the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

term for "law of the domicile" in the conflict of laws

Conflict of laws

Conflict of laws is a set of procedural rules that determines which legal system and which jurisdiction's applies to a given dispute...

. Conflict is the branch of public law

Public law

Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...

regulating all lawsuit

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

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

Court

A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...

and all the main features of the case are local, the court will apply the lex fori
Lex fori
Lex fori is a legal term used in the conflict of laws used to refer to the laws of the jurisdiction in which a legal action is brought...

, the prevailing municipal law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, 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 has jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...

to hear the case (see the problem of forum shopping
Forum shopping
Forum shopping is the informal name given to the practice adopted by some litigants to get their legal case heard in the court thought most likely to provide a favorable judgment...

);
it must then characterise
Characterisation (conflict)
In conflict of laws, characterisation is the second stage in the procedure to resolve a lawsuit involving a foreign law element. This process is described in English law as classification and as qualification in French law...

the issues, i.e. allocate the factual basis of the case to its relevant legal classes; and
then apply the choice of law
Choice of law
Choice of law is a procedural stage in the litigation of a case involving the conflict of laws when it is necessary to reconcile the differences between the laws of different legal jurisdictions, such as sovereign states, federated states , or provinces...

rules to decide the lex causae
Lex causae
In the conflict of laws, lex causae is the law or laws chosen by the forum court from among the relevant legal systems to arrive at its judgement of an international or interjurisdictional case....

, i.e. which law is to be applied to each class.

The lex domicilii is a common law

Common law

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

choice of law rule applied to cases testing the status

Status (law)

A person's status is a set of social conditions or relationships created and vested in an individual by an act of law rather than by the consensual acts of the parties, and it is in rem, i.e. these conditions must be recognised by the world. It is the qualities of universality and permanence that...

and capacity

Capacity (law)

The capacity of both natural and legal persons determines whether they may make binding amendments to their rights, duties and obligations, such as getting married or merging, entering into contracts, making gifts, or writing a valid will...

of the parties

Party (law)

A party is a person or group of persons that compose a single entity which can be identified as one for the purposes of the law. Parties include: plaintiff , defendant , petitioner , respondent , cross-complainant A party is a person or group of persons that compose a single entity which can be...

to the case. For example, suppose that a person domiciled

Domicile (law)

In law, domicile is the status or attribution of being a permanent resident in a particular jurisdiction. A person can remain domiciled in a jurisdiction even after they have left it, if they have maintained sufficient links with that jurisdiction or have not displayed an intention to leave...

in Malaysia decides to take a "round-the-world" trip. It would be inconvenient if this person's legal status and capacities changed every time they changed jurisdiction, e.g. that they might be considered an infant

Minor (law)

In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...

or an adult, married

Marriage (conflict)

In conflict of laws, the issue of marriage has assumed increasing public policy significance in a world of increasing multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-national relationships...

or free to marry, bankrupt or creditworthy, etc., depending on the nature of the laws of the place where they happened to be. Assuming that there are no public policy

Public policy (law)

In private international law, the public policy doctrine or ordre public concerns the body of principles that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state. This addresses the social, moral and economic values that tie a society together: values that vary in different cultures and change...

issues raised under the relevant lex fori, the domiciliary law should apply to define all major issues and so produce an in rem
In rem
In rem is Latin for "against a thing." In a lawsuit, an action in rem is directed towards a piece of property rather than against a person . The action disputes or seeks to transfer title to property. When title to real estate In rem is Latin for "against a thing." In a lawsuit, an action in rem...

outcome no matter where the case might be litigated. The civil law

Civil law (legal system)

Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...

states use a test of either lex patriae
Lex patriae
The term lex patriae is Latin for the law of nationality in the conflict of laws which is the system of public law applied to any lawsuit where there is a choice to be made between several possibly relevant laws and a different result will be achieved depending on which law is...

(the law of nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

) or the law of habitual residence to determine status and capacity.

Explanation

See also