American-Swiss Private International Law

Abstract

In the period between the World Wars American business men and their attorneys have become increasingly concerned with international and with the of foreign countries. This phenomenon is likely to become even more marked in the future. Among other circumstances, the growth of airmail service has considerably facilitated trans-oceanic commercial transactions and litigation. The broadened interest of Americans in foreign countries has multiplied the problems facing the legal profession. It is common knowledge that the training of American lawyers in international has long been inadequate: for example, in this article several American cases will be noted in which a pertinent treaty was ignored. To acquaint American lawyers with the proper legal sources new techniques must be devised. The preparation of studies on international law, or more specifically, on the private-international relations between the United States and a particular foreign country, offers one method of supplying the legal profession with the required information. Such studies of AngloAmerican, Mexican-American, Brazilian-American and other bilateral relations would be of great value to lawyers working in the international field. The principal source for the studies would be the treaties-so much neglected in university courses and casebooks. In addition, executive agreements, reciprocity declarations, public acts, and related judicial and administrative decisions should be consulted. But investigations should not be confined to international proper. For the practitioner of international more serious problems are often presented by such questions as jurisdiction of courts, enforcement of foreign judgments and proof of foreign law, all procedural matters long dealt with in texts and courses on international law. These bilateral studies should follow the same line, with the emphasis. naturally, upon the foreign rather than the domestic law. Finally, in the light of practical considerations, attention should be devoted to municipal external law, or municipal concerning foreign relations, to the extent that it bears upon the legal relations of aliens, citizens or corporations. Here the term private international law may be taken in a non-technical, very broad sense. The writer proposes to illustrate this plan by inquiry into AmericanSwiss international law. This choice was influenced by earlier studies of the writer,1 but it can also be justified on independent grounds. Through