CONFLICTS SYLLABUS
Fall 2008
Michael Steven Green
Grading:
The grading for the course will be solely on the basis of a three hour
final. I will not alter grades on the basis of class participation,
although I may call on people randomly.
The
following provisional only and is subject to revision.
In addition, materials
to supplement the casebook may be added from time to time.
All pages numbers refer to Currie, Kaye, Kramer & Roosevelt,
Conflict of Laws unless
otherwise stated
I. Introduction
II. Choice of Law
A. The Traditional Approach
1.
Survey
of Jurisdiction-Selecting Rules
a. Torts (2-17) 1st
Restatement on Torts
Study
Questions
b. Contracts (17-25)
1st
Restatement on Contracts
Study
Questions
c. Property (26-30) 1st
Restatement on Property
Study
Questions
d. Domicile (30-37) 1st
Restatement on Domicile
Study
Questions
e.
Other
Traditional Rules (37-39) 1st
Restatement on Marriage
Study
Questions
2. Escape Devices
a. Characterization
(39-48)
Study
Questions 1
Study
Questions 2
b.
Substance/Procedure Distinction (48-61) 1st
Restatement on Procedure
Study
Questions 1
Study
Questions 2
c. Renvoi (61-70) Study
Questions
d. Public Policy,
Penal Laws, Tax Claims (70-84)
Study
Questions
3. Virginia cases
McMillan v. McMillan,
219 Va. 1127
(1979)
Jones v. R.S. Jones,
Inc., 246 Va. 3 (1993)
Buchanan v. Doe, 246
Va. 67 (1993)
Study
Questions
B. Pleading and
Proving Foreign Law (84-90)
Study
Questions
C. Modern Approaches
1. Statutory Solutions (borrowing statutes) (96-99)
Study
Questions
2. Party Autonomy and the Rule of Validation (99-112)
Study
Questions
3. Interest Analysis
a.
Introduction (124-37)
Study
Questions
b.
Identifying False Conflicts (137-55)
Study
Questions
c. New York's
Neumeier Rules (155-67)
Study
Questions
d.
Unprovided-For Cases (167-74)
Study
Questions
e. Resolving
True Conflicts - The Law of the Forum (174-82)
Study
Questions
f. Resolving
True Conflicts - The Moderate and Restrained Interpretation (182-86)
Study
Questions
g.
Resolving
True Conflicts - Comparative Impairment (186-99, 201-04) (don't do
section 5 on p. 199)
Study
Questions
4. Most Significant Relationship (204-28)
Selections from
the 2nd Restatement [skim]
Study
Questions
5. Better Law (228-45)
Study
Questions
6. Depecage (245-250)
Study
Questions
7. Renvoi (250-59)
Study
Questions
8. Complex Litigation (266-96)
Study
Questions
9. Internet (301-15)
Study
Questions
D.
Constitutional Limitations on Choice of Law
1. Due Process (316-23)
Study
Questions
2. Full Faith and Credit (323-36)
Study
Questions
3. Convergence (336-56)
Study
Questions
4. Obligation to Provide a Forum (356-67)
Study
Questions
5. Privileges and Immunities Clause (367-77)
Study
Questions
III. Recognition of
Foreign Judgments
A. The Basics of Full Faith
and Credit for Judgments and Res Judicata (477-81)
No Study Questions
B. Judgments and the
Interest of the Forum (481-96)
Study
Questions
C. Thomas v. Washington Gas
Light Co. (496-506)
Study
Questions
D. Jurisdictional Issues
(507-14)
Study
Questions
E. The Land Taboo (514-25)
Study
Questions
F. Equitable Decrees
(532-49)
Study
Questions
G. Class Action Settlement
and Claim Preclusion (559-69)
Study
Questions
IV. Marriage/Divorce
A. Ex Parte Divorce
(570-79)
Study Questions
B. Divisible Divorce (579-89)
Study Questions
C. Divorce by Consent
(589-610)
Study Questions
D. Same-Sex
Marriage and the Defense of
Marriage Act (617-26)
Also
read Larry Kramer, Same Sex
Marriage, Conflicts of Law and the
Unconstitutional Public Policy Exception, 106 Yale L.J. 1965
(1997)
and
Borchers, Baker v. General Motors: Implications
for Interjurisdictional Recognition of Non-Traditional Marriages,
32 Creighton L. Rev. 147 (1998)
Study
Questions
V.
International Conflicts
A. The Limits of
Legislative
Jurisdiction (784-96)
Study
Questions
B. Moderation in the
Extraterritorial Application of US Law (796-835)
Study
Questions
C. The Extraterritorial
Reach of the Constitution (835-50)
Study
Questions
D. Recognition of Judgments
(881-93)
Study
Questions
VI.
Erie
A. The
Framework: York-Byrd-Hanna (705-20)
Study
Questions
B.
Application (738-49)
Szantay v. Beech
Aircraft Corp., 349 F.2d 60 (4th Cir. 1965)
Study
Questions