Дилеме које прате начине сазнања и примене страног права
Dilemmas Arising from the Ways of Finding Out About and Applying Foreign Law

Author(s): Vladimir Čolović
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Court case
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Источном Сарајеву
Keywords: Foreign law; Court; Foreign element; Service of documents; Letter of request; Authentic instrument;
Summary/Abstract: Private International Law rules regulate the matter of domestic judicial and other authorities finding out about and applying foreign law in cases involving foreign element. Article 13 of the Act on the Resolution of Conflicts of Laws with the Regulations of Other Countries stipulates that the court or other authority shall be obliged to determine, ex officio, the application of foreign law or that the court may request the content foreign rule from the Ministry of Justice. Also, the parties can submit a public document on the content of foreign law. Applying above mentioned provisions raises many questions which require proper answers, especially bearing in mind that the practice is sometimes contrary not only to provisions of the said law but to basic rules of Private International Law. The paper will discuss the ways of finding out about foreign law, the possibility of receiving information about the content of foreign law from domestic institutions and the risk involved when a party submits a public document about the content of foreign law. In addition, for the correct finding out and application of foreign law, it is important to take care of the delivery of the act to the authority of the foreign state, from which the notification is required. Furthermore, it is essential that the party consider the issue of whether the domestic court or other authority will be able to correctly interpret and apply the provisions of the foreign law, without additional information obtained from the authorities of a foreign country. Also, the paper will raise the question of whether it is advisable, in any case, to apply domestic law in a situation where it is not possible to find out about foreign law for any reason.

• Details
• Contents