A DIGEST

OF

THE LAW OF ENGLAND

WITH REFERENCE TO

THE CONFLICT OF LAWS.

BY

A. V. DICEY, Q. C., B. C. L.

OF THE INNER TEMPLE; VINERIAN PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LAW IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD;
FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD; HON. LL. D., GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH.

WITH NOTES OF AMERICAN CASES,

BY

JOHN BASSETT MOORE,

PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, N. Y.;
AUTHOR OF A WORK ON EXTRADITION AND INTERSTATE RENDITION, ETC.

LONDON:

STEVENS AND SONS, LIMITED, 119 & 120, CHANCERY LANE
SWEET AND MAXWELL, LIMITED, 3, CHANCERY LANE.
BOSTON, U. S. A.: THE BOSTON BOOK CO.
Law Publishers and Booksellers.

Copyright, 1896,
by

STEVENS & SONS, LIMITED,
and

SWEET & MAXWELL, LIMITED.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.

To

ARTHUR COHEN

ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S COUNSEL

WHOSE MASTERY OF LEGAL PRINCIPLES

IS SURPASSED ONLY BY

THE KINDNESS WITH WHICH HIS LEARNING AND EXPERIENCE

ARE PLACED AT THE SERVICE OF

HIS FRIENDS

PREFACE.

My aim in this book is to apply to the whole field of private international law the method of treatment already applied to a large part thereof in my book on the law of domicil. In the following pages the principles of private international law recognised by English Courts—or, to use an exactly equivalent expression, the principles adhered to by English judges when dealing with the conflict of laws — are treated as a branch of the law of England: these principles are exhibited in the form of systematically arranged Rules and Exceptions, and each of these Rules and Exceptions is, when necessary, elucidated by comment and illustrations. Hence this treatise has a twofold character. It is, or rather it contains, a second and carefully corrected edition of The Law of Domicil as a Branch of the Law of England. It is also a complete digest of and commentary on the law of England with reference to the conflict of laws.

There are two features of this work to which it may be allowable to call particular attention:

First. Pains have been taken to render this treatise useful to American no less than to English readers.

For the promotion of this object Professor J. B. Moore, of Columbia College, New York, has appended to each of the leading chapters of this Digest a statement of American law on the subject therein dealt with, and has given the authorities, and especially the most recent American decisions, which support the conclusions at which he has arrived. To him belongs the whole credit, as also of course the whole responsibility, for this account of American law. His name is a sufficient guarantee for its accuracy. This review of American cases will be, it is hoped, whilst of practical utility to American, of considerable interest to English lawyers.