Late Assessment Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.

Word limits will be strictly applied and work exceeding the word limit will not be graded.  Citations should conform to the current version of the AGLC

All assessments in this unit are to be submitted electronically.  Plagiarism detection software is used in this unit.

With respect to moderation, detailed rubrics will be made available on iLearn.  All fail papers are double-marked by the Unit Convenor

This unit is taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials.  The lectures are offered live and via iLearn on the Echo360 System

The prescribed casebook is Nygh's Conflict of Laws 9th Ed (2014).  If students feel that they would benefit from a textbook, Private International Law in Australia by Reid Mortensen et al 4th Edition (2019) may be helpful but will not be referred to in the course.

In addition to the casebook which is somewhat dated, we will have substantial recourse to other materials, including recently decided cases, journal articles and book chapters. These materials will be listed in iLearn by respective topic. Most of these materials will be available through Leganto.  Very recent cases will be available through online library resources.

Attendance at tutorials is an essential element of this course because exercises are conducted during tutorials and these exercises are directly relevant to questions raised in the assessments. The techniques addressed in the tutorials are expected to be utilised in responding to exam questions.  An attendance role will be taken at each tutorial session. Students may, from time to time, attend tutorial sessions other than the one in which they are enrolled providing that seating is available. As part of the art of lawyering, conflict of laws issues are best addressed through problem solving.  Success in the examinations is invariably associated with active participation in the tutorials.  During the tutorials, we will review current cases that are not in the casebook and students will attempt to solve conflict of laws problems.  While participation is essential for satisfactory completion of the course, tutorial work is not graded - it is an opportunity to see how the doctrines actually work to solve problems.  It is a time for students to support each other as we work through challenging real-life situations based on recent Australian, UK, Canadian and US case decisions.  Students who are not prepared to attend and participate in tutorials should not enroll in this course.

Conflict of laws is sometimes called private international law.  However, in Australia, Canada and the United States, conflict of laws is a more apt title because the situations are typically domestic as opposed to international.

Conflict of laws issues are central to the actual practice of law. Essentially conflicts, as it is commonly known, deals with many aspects of procedural law - some of which may be outcome determinative.  The most well-known aspect of this subject is the subject of choice of law.  This is the doctrine that enables a lawyer to advise the court as to the body of law that is to be applied to a dispute. The subject also deals with jurisdiction, injunctions in aid of jurisdiction, restraints on local proceedings and enforcement of judgments. Conflicts may be unique among law courses because it is perhaps the only subject in which non-lawyers rarely have any knowledge or even awareness of the concept’s existence. It is not unfair to say the conflict of laws is a subject known only to the legal profession and is essential to the lawyer's art. While frequently addressed in terms of disputes (litigation), conflict of laws is an essential body of law for legal practitioners who draft agreements because many conflicts issues are subject to party agreement.

Conflicts is not just a matter of following rules. Rather, knowledge of conflicts guides skilled practitioners in obtaining better outcomes for their clients. While based on legal theory, in practice, conflicts permits lawyers to attempt to utilise the most desirable venues and bodies of law to benefit their clients’ interests. Conflict of laws is somewhat of a misnomer; the actual focus is on personal jurisdiction, choice of law or forum selection and this unit will examine essential concepts relating to these issues.

Using a problem-based approach, this course will examine a variety of circumstances to see how conflicts theory can be strategically applied to influence the ultimate outcome of a dispute. Perhaps the centrality of a working knowledge of conflict of laws is exemplified by the following example:

An independent contractor called Alan resides in Victoria. He is assigned projects by Apex Corporation.  Apex trained him in Victoria and required him to purchase various specified equipment including a stepladder manufactured by Bosco Specialties in Brisbane, Queensland.  Most of the work performed by Alan for Apex is in Victoria.  While working on a project for Apex just across the border in New South Wales, Alan fell from the stepladder and sustained extremely serious injuries.  Alan believes that he fell because the ladder was defectively designed and manufactured.  Alan's claim against Apex has been resolved through Workers' Compensation and is not in issue.

Alan presents himself to you at your law office in Victoria.  A decision is made to proceed by way of litigation in the Supreme Court of Victoria against Bosco Specialities.  The plaintiff was tardy coming to you for advice but you ascertain that the statute of limitations for pursuing an action in tort is not time barred under Victorian law.  But, you also note that under both NSW and Queensland laws, the action appears to be time-barred.  If the action is commenced in Victoria, will it likely be time-barred?

While the common law of tort is uniform across Australia; statutes of limitation vary among the States.  Here, the correct statute of limitation may be outcome determinative.  While this seems like a rather mundane personal injury matter, it presents classic conflict of laws issues that will likely decide whether the matter may proceed or will be time-barred.

Weekly Schedule - Readings will also materials listed on iLearn and available through Leganto

An integral aspect of this course is the discussion of new caselaw from Australian, Canadian, American, British or EU Courts - this necessarily changes each year. 

Based on student comments, the sections on interlocutory relief and restitution have been deleted as not being core to the subject and have been partially replaced by an enhanced discussion of the doctrine of depecage which, along with renvoi, is a somewhat confusing but essential conflicts doctrine.

In addition, the content in Weeks 12 and 13 is a new addition and will be devoted to conflict of laws as applied to situations where the underlying dispute relates to the internet, including social media.