private international law

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.