Renvoi Essay

Renvoi leads always to international harmony of decisions.
Discuss
The doctrine of renvoi is among the most important and valuable subjects in Conflict of Laws;
the reason for its significance is when courts decide to interpret the law of a foreign land to
settle a conflict, the question of which law of that country should indeed be applied arises,
whether it is just the domestic laws or whether it also includes the corresponding country's
conflict of Law rules, and the concept of Renvoi plays a major part in addressing this challenge.
"According to this theory, an English judge who is referred by English law to a foreign legal
system must apply whatever law a court in that foreign legal system would use," says Ason
Chuah. However, this is based on the foreign legal system's recognition of the concept of
renvoi. The nature, types, advantages and disadvantages, and other essential questions related
to the doctrine of renvoi, as well as whether it genuinely leads to international decision-making
unity, will be discussed further in this essay.
The doctrine of renvoi is a relatively new concept in English law, conceived to avoid the rigidity
of earlier English conflict rules. In the case of Collier v Rivaz, the English courts were the first to
adopt the idea of renvoi, which means that the word law is taken to encompass not just that
country's domestic law but also its conflict of law principles. In the case of Re Ross, a British
subject who was domiciled in Italy died there and left movable and immovable property, and
also some movable asset in England. She had drafted a will, which was legal in England but
unlawful in Italy because she did not give half of her estate to her son. The problem was ruled
by the law of the testator's domicile under English conflict of laws, and because she was
domiciled in Italy, the English court submitted the case to an Italian court. However, the matter
was determined by the testator's nationality under Italian conflict of laws (English law). As a
result, the Italian court referred to the English court, which upheld the will's legality.
The second sort of renvoi, total renvoi, was established in the case of Re Annesley. Total renvoi
comprises domestic law, conflict of law principles, and other tools available to the court. In the
matter of Re Annesley, the following is a summary of the facts: Testator (T), a British national
who died in France, wrote a will claiming to dispose of all of her belongings. T was only allowed
to sell one-third of her property under French law since she had two children. The domicile was
the linking factor in determining the legality of the will, and as T is domiciled in France, French
Law would've been applied. Since France accepts renvoi and according to French Conflict of Law
rules, English Law only applies, that is, English domestic law and English conflict of law rules. As
a result, French domestic law was applied, and T's will was just effective to dispose of one-third
of her property. The rejecting renvoi is the third type of renvoi, in which the word law is
understood to solely cover that country's internal law. The doctrine of renvoi, like other
academic conceptions, has pros and cons. Some researchers have focused on the advantages of
this ideology and consider it to be a beneficial doctrine and a proper solution. Some jurists, on
the other hand, are against it and see it as an impractical solution. Those in support of renvoi
make a number of arguments, the first of which is that if a dispute is to be resolved by a foreign
law, rejecting renvoi and not adopting the entirety of the foreign law would lead in the law of
nowhere being implemented. Furthermore, as in the case of Re Annesley, Anton argues in his
book Private International Law that it promotes the parties' reasonable expectations. Third,
reacting to total renvoi will result in uniformity in resolving disputes, regardless of what forum
the case is decided in, leading to international unity of decisions. Resultantly, the application of
renvoi would prevent the occurrence of unfavorable defendants says the case of Collier v Rivaz.
On either side, this idea has drawbacks, such as the application of a foreign country's domestic
law overriding a person's legitimate expectations and undermining the basis under which
England has evolved certain conflict of law laws. There are other practical obstacles in
implementing renvoi, such as not knowing what the foreign country's renvoi rules are,
especially if the foreign country is not certain Concerning the Duke of Wellington. Another
argument is that renvoi lowers English choice of law rules to that of a foreign system, resulting
in a conflict if both countries use total renvoi, as in the case of Neilson v Overseas.
It is necessary to keep in mind, however, that renvoi doesn't somehow apply in all
circumstances. "Renvoi applies to concerns of intestate succession and essential validity of
wills," according to Abla Mayss. There is some authority that it relates to'marriage,' and that it
should be applied in circumstances involving title to immovable property. Renvoi, on the other
hand, has no place in contract or tort law." Furthermore, in England, renvoi is only applied at
the request of the parties. As evidenced by the case of Bluesky One v Mahan Air, English courts
are hesitant to apply the norm of renvoi.
In conclusion, while international unity of choices can be attained through the use of renvoi,
there are drawbacks to the principles, such as the fact that the foreign country's renvoi rules
are unknown in the foreign country, and if both countries use total renvoi, a conflict occurs,
making it difficult to achieve international unity of decisions. As a consequence, while there is a
growing trend of rejecting to use renvoi due to its disadvantages, the concept can be
reconsidered and revised, assuring international uniformity of rulings.

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Renvoi leads always to international harmony of decisions.

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