Conflict of Laws, Rules of the

a legal norm that indicates which country’s law should be applied to civil law relations involving transnational considerations. The presence of a “foreign element” in such a legal relationship raises the “conflict question”: in the event of a conflict, which country’s laws are applicable? The rules of the conflict of laws answer this question by establishing a common feature for the choice of law to be applied; that is, they do not determine what rights and obligations arise for the participants of the legal relationship but merely refer to the law, domestic or foreign, by which the countries should be guided. For example, the rules of the conflict of laws contained in article 127 of the Basic Principles of Civil Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics determine that the relations concerning succession are defined according to the law of the country where the legator had his last permanent residence.

The rule of the conflict of laws consists of two elements— extent (indicating the sphere of relations to which this rule is applied) and adherence (indicating which law should be applied). The basic types of attachment norms governing adherence in conflict of laws (the so-called formulae of adherence) include the “law of the person,” that is, the law of citizenship or permanent residence of the person (used in deciding questions in such areas as legal capacity and marriage); the law of the location of the object; the law of the place where the act was committed; and the law of the court.

In Soviet legislation, in addition to the Basic Principles of Civil Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics, the rules of the conflict of laws are contained in the Maritime Code of the USSR, in the Basic Principles of Legislation on Marriage and Family, and in a number of other laws. Several international treaties in which the USSR is a participant also contain rules of the conflict of laws (for example, treaties on rendering legal aid in civil, family, and criminal cases and the General Conditions for Delivery of Goods Between Organizations of Member Countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, adopted in 1968).