Interaction of the Qualifications and Public Policy in Private International Law

Abstract

The conflict of qualifications and the public policy clause in private international law can be used to achieve the political and legal objectives of the court's rule of law. The analysis of judicial practice and special literature on it indicates an increasing interest in the issue of interaction of these two tools for the stated purposes. The article aims to illustrate this interaction using specific examples from judicial practice and identify its patterns, in particular, to establish subordination between the conflict of qualifications and the public policy clause. To achieve the result, general scientific and special research methods were used, including the method of comparative law. As a result of the study the author has made a conclusion. The method of functional qualification dictated by legal dogmatics does not give the conflict of laws norm independence from the political and legal will of the legislator. The conflict of laws norm remains an instrument in the hands of the state to achieve political and legal goals, and in this sense its dogmatic interpretation allows for political and legal correction. This correction is expressed in a restrictive interpretation of the concepts of conflict of laws, when it becomes necessary. The protection of the court's rule of law values, traditionally associated with the reservation on public order, is transferred to an earlier stage of qualification of the concepts of the conflict of laws rule. Due to the restrictive qualification, the correction of the result dictated by dogma is carried out both in the choice of applicable law and in determining the scope of the conflict of laws reference. As a result, the queue does not reach the stage of applying the public policy clause, since its goals have already been achieved due to political and legal qualifications.