private international law

Definition

Part of local legal system that governs the selection of appropriate law, and validity of judgments and jurisdictions of local and foreign courts, in civil cases containing a foreign element, such as where a contract made locally has to be performed in another country. Under the Rome Convention (in force since 1991) the laws of the legal system specified in a contract must be respected and, if no legal system was specified, rules laid down by the convention become applicable. Also called conflict of laws.