Abstract
Conflicts of Laws doctrine is both deep and wide. It raises fundamental jurisprudential issues (Andreas Lowenfeld years ago called conflicts “applied jurisprudence”) while at the same time ranging across all fields of substantive and procedural law. Whether they realize it or not, every litigator and transactional lawyer will face issues raised in this course. The authors recognize the need, therefore, to provide appropriate review of civil procedure to prepare students for the study of conflicts.
This edition maintains the virtue of flexibility. Some professors will choose to cover a great deal of international and comparative law. Others, however, will prefer to address conflicts only in the domestic sphere. Many will fall somewhere in between those two poles. This edition allows professors to make their own coverage choice.
This edition includes coverage of many new Supreme Court decisions, which range from state court jurisdiction under the due process clause to extraterritorial application of federal law to the scope of federal common law. Particular care has been taken to incorporate sections of the draft Third Restatement of Conflict of Laws and compare them to their Second Restatement counterparts. And there is coverage of new international developments, especially as to the European Union.