substance/procedure

1
substance/procedure
2
A NY state court wants to know whether it should
use PAs statute of limitations (damages
limitations, burden of proof, evidentiary rule)
with the PA cause of actionHow can it tell
whether PA wants it to be used by sister state
courts?
3
If PA cts use the rule for sister state causes of
action do we know it is not substantive?No it
could be procedural and substantive.
4
If PA cts refuse use the rule for sister state
causes of action do we know it is
substantive?No it could be procedural but
applicable only to PA causes of action.
5
A PA statute creating a wrongful death action
specifies the service rule for such actions.The
service rule is not applied by PA cts to sister
state wrongful death actions.Does that mean the
service rule is substantive?
6
renvoidésistement
7
in re Schneiders Estate (Sur. Ct. N.Y. 1950)
8

• The primary reason for its existence lies in the
  fact that the law-making and law-enforcing
  agencies of the country in which land is situated
  have exclusive control over such land. As only
  the courts of that country are ultimately capable
  of rendering enforceable judgments affecting the
  land, the legislative authorities thereof have
  the exclusive power to promulgate the law which
  shall regulate its ownership and transfer.

9

• In re Annesley
• British subject in France dies
• what law governs her movable property
• English choice-of-law rule law of domicile at
  death
• French choice-of-law rule use law of
  nationality
• A French court had decided this issue as follows
• Choose English law, but whole law which referred
  back to French internal law
• English court in In re Annesley says, French
  court was wrong
• English court would refer to whole law of France

10

• Section 8. Rule in questions of title to land or
  divorce.
• (1) All questions of title to land are decided in
  accordance with the law of the state where the
  land is, including the Conflict of Laws rules of
  that State.
• (2) All questions concerning the validity of a
  decree of divorce are decided in accordance with
  the law of the domicile of the parties, including
  the Conflict of Laws rules of that State.

11

• 2nd Restatement
• Renvoi if
• - the objective of the particular choice of law
  rule is that the forum reach the same decision as
  that of another state (on the same facts)
• Examples
• validity and effect of transfer of interests in
  land
• and succession of interests in movables in a
  decedents estate

12

• Massachusetts wants marriages celebrated in Mass
  to be valid if they are valid according to a
  standard upon which the parties might have
  reasonably relied
• Mass will treat a marriage entered into in Mass
  as valid if it is in accordance with Mass law or
  the law of the parties domicile
• Two Virginians who are cousins get married in
  Mass
• Marriage is illegal under Mass law but not
  Virginia law
• Marriage is being adjudicated by a Wisconsin
  court, which uses the place of celebration rule

13
- CA ct is determining validity of will
concerning personalty in CA- decedent was
domiciled in CA at time of execution of will and
executed will in CA- but decedent was domiciled
in NY at time of death- CA's choice of law rules
is that the domicile of the decedent at death
determines the validity of a will- NY wants to
protect the expectation of the testator, so says
a will is valid if it is valid under the law of
either the domicile at the time of execution, or
the domicile at death or the place of execution
14
Public Policy Exception
15
Loucks v Standard Oil (NY 1918)
16

• The courts are not free to refuse to enforce a
  foreign right at the pleasure of the judges, to
  suit the individual notion of expediency or
  fairness. They do not close their doors unless
  help would violate some fundamental principle of
  justice, some prevalent conception of good
  morals, some deep-rooted tradition of the common
  weal.

17

• A foreign statute is not law in this state, but
  it gives rise to an obligation, which, if
  transitory, follows the person and may be
  enforced wherever the person may be found. The
  plaintiff owns something, and we help him to get
  it. We do this unless some sound reason of public
  policy makes it unwise for us to lend our aid.
  The law of the forum is material only as setting
  a limit of policy beyond which such obligations
  will not be enforced there (Cuba R. R. Co. v.
  Crosby, supra, 478). Sometimes, we refuse to act
  where all the parties are non-residents. That
  restriction need not detain us in this case all
  are residents. If aid is to be withheld here, it
  must be because the cause of action in its nature
  offends our sense of justice or menaces the
  public welfare.

18
Mertz v Mertz (NY 1936)
19

• Mertz
• The term public policy is frequently used in a
  very vague, loose or inaccurate sense. The courts
  have often found it necessary to define its
  juridical meaning, and have held that a state can
  have no public policy except what is to be found
  in its Constitution and laws. Therefore, when we
  speak of the public policy of the state, we mean
  the law of the state, whether found in the
  Constitution, the statutes or judicial records.

20

• Mertz
• The law of the forum determines the jurisdiction
  of the courts, the capacity of the parties to sue
  or be sued, the remedies which are available to
  suitors and the procedure of the courts. Where a
  party seeks in this state enforcement of a cause
  of action created by foreign law, he can avail
  himself only of the remedies provided by our law,
  and is subject to their limitations.

21
Holzer v Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (NY
1938)