Conflict of Laws addresses issues that may arise when a dispute or transaction has connections with more than one state or country. The subject is generally divided into three interrelated topics: (1) territorial jurisdiction (and related doctrines), (2) choice of law, and (3) recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. This course focuses exclusively on choice of law. Most of the course focuses on the sources from which state courts draw in choosing the applicable law. But the course also covers (1) constitutional limits on state choice of law, (2) the rules governing the choice of state law in federal court, and (3) the principles that determine whether and when a federal statute may be given extraterritorial effect. By the end of the course, students should have developed a sound understanding of the methodologies that influence choice of law in the United States and the policy considerations that will shape further development of the law in this area. The first and third topics in Conflict of Laws are covered in a separate course entitled “Jurisdiction & Judgments.”
Woolley, Patrick