American Conflicts Law: Cases and Materials

American Conflicts Law is a comprehensive text designed to be used as a companion to all modern casebooks currently used in courses in Conflict of Laws in United States' law schools. The sixth edition of American Conflicts Law continues the tradition of the first five editions in covering all important topics included in the Conflicts course. However, the text has been completely reorganized and shortened to achieve a succinct, but in-depth, treatment of this conceptually difficult subject. The revised and shortened version of the text will better meet the needs of law students for an informative and manageable study aid for the course in Conflict of Laws. Chapter One briefly introduces the subject and traces the historical evolution of Conflicts doctrine in the United States. Chapters Two and Three then establish the foundation for the exploration of conflict-of-laws in the United States by providing background in the modern law of personal jurisdiction and interstate judgment enforcement—subjects that provide critical background for understanding choice-of-law theory. Chapter 4 introduces students to the choice-of-law systems currently prevailing in the United States, together with critical commentary on each system. Chapter 5 rounds out the coverage of choice-of-law systems with a discussion of numerous topics, such as Domicile and Proof of Foreign Law, that are common to all systems. Chapter 6 then explores the constitutional limits that exist on state conflict-of-laws doctrine in the United States, with special attention to the Due Process and Full Faith and Credit Clauses of the United States Constitution. Chapter 7 ends the general material with an examination of “vertical choice of law,”—the so-called Erie doctrine that governs the obligations of federal courts to apply state law in diversity and other actions. After this general background material, Chapters Eight through Twelve apply the general principles examined in Chapters One through Seven to particular topics. These chapters include coverage of conflict-of-laws problems in Torts (Chapter Eight), Contracts (Chapter Nine), Property (Chapter 10), Inheritance (Chapter 11), and Domestic Relations (Chapter 12). The revised text of the new sixth edition has, of course, been updated to include coverage of all modern developments since the fifth edition. This includes coverage in Chapter 4 of the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in Townsend v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 879 N.E.2d 893 (2007) and, in Chapter 7, the United States Supreme Court's decision under the Erie doctrine of Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates v. Allstate Insurance Co., 130 S. Ct. 1431(2010). The most important and relevant contemporary writing on Conflict of Laws has also been added to the footnotes. The authors believe that the revised sixth edition of American Conflicts Law will provide a useful tool with which to complete the understanding of modern choice-of-law doctrine in United States law schools.