Torts in Private International Law: A New Statutory Framework

Abstract

Part III of The Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995 entered into force on 1 May 19961. As from that date2, the choice of law rules for tort developed in the common law will be abolished, in respect of most causes of action in tort3, and will be replaced by statutory rules of a radically different character4. The new choice of law rules essentially provide that, as a general rule, the law applicable to a tort is the law of the country5 in which the events constituting the tort in question occur6. This general rule may be subject to displacement where, in the light of a comparison between the significance of the factors connecting the tort with the country whose law is applicable under the general rule, and the significance of the factors connecting the tort with another country, it appears substantially more appropriate for the applicable law to be the law of that other country7. The express abolition of the common law rules is (with one significant exception)8 effected by section 10 of the Act. That section provides: the rules of the common law, in so far as they—(a) require actionability under both the law of the forum and the law of another country for the purpose of determining whether a tort or delict is actionable; or(b) allow (as an exception from the rules falling within paragraph (a) above) for the law of a single country to be applied for the purpose of determining the issues, or any of the issues, arising in the case in question,are hereby abolished so far as they apply to any claim in tort or delict which is not excluded from the operation of this Part by section 13 below.