Free tool · Conflict of Laws
Choice of Law: Which State’s Law Applies?
When a dispute touches more than one state, the court first applies its own choice-of-law rules, which differ by state. Under the First Restatement, torts are governed by the law of the place of injury and contracts by the law of the place of making. The Second Restatement applies the law of the state with the most significant relationship, weighing the place of injury, the place of conduct, the parties’ domiciles and where their relationship is centred. Interest analysis asks which states have an interest in applying their law. For contracts, a choice-of-law clause is generally honoured if the chosen state has a substantial relationship and its law does not offend a fundamental policy of a state with a materially greater interest.
Tool · Choice of Law Analyzer
All approaches agree.
First Restatement (vested rights): Ohio
- The law of the place of the wrong governs: the state where the last event necessary to make the defendant liable occurred, usually the place of injury (Ohio).
- The approach is certain and predictable, but is criticised as rigid, and courts use escape devices (characterising the issue as procedural, or as contract or property) to avoid it.
Second Restatement (most significant relationship): Ohio
- The Second Restatement (§§ 145 and 6) applies the law of the state with the most significant relationship to the occurrence and the parties, weighing the place of injury (Ohio), the place of the conduct (Kentucky), the domicile of the parties (Ohio and Kentucky) and the place where the relationship is centred (Ohio), in light of the policies in § 6.
- The relationship between the parties was centred in Ohio, which points to its law.
Interest analysis (governmental interests): Ohio
- Interest analysis (Currie) asks what policy each state’s law serves and whether the state has an interest in applying it to these parties. A true conflict: the plaintiff’s state has an interest in protecting its resident, and the defendant’s state has an interest in protecting its own.
- In a true conflict, many courts apply the forum’s law (Currie), others weigh the comparative impairment of each state’s interest (Bernhard; Baxter v Superior Court).
Lex fori (the forum’s law): Ohio
- A few states, and some courts when other approaches do not decide, simply apply the forum’s law.
- States differ on which approach they use: a minority still follow the First Restatement for torts or contracts, many use the Second Restatement’s most significant relationship test, some use interest analysis or Leflar’s choice-influencing considerations, and some mix them. A court applies the forum state’s own choice-of-law rules (Klaxon v Stentor, in federal diversity cases), and always applies the forum’s procedural law.
- A choice of law is also limited by the Constitution: the forum must have a significant contact creating state interests, so that applying its law is not arbitrary or fundamentally unfair (Allstate Insurance v Hague).
Shows which state’s law governs under the main American approaches (the First Restatement, the Second Restatement’s most significant relationship test, interest analysis, and for contracts the choice-of-law clause), so that you can see where they agree and where the choice of approach decides the case. Use invented states and facts. States differ on which approach they follow, and each has its own cases: a teaching aid, not legal advice. Runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
How to use it
- Choose tort or contract, and enter the forum state.
- Enter the states connected with the injury, the conduct and each party.
- For a contract, add any state chosen in the contract.
- Compare the answers of each approach and see whether they agree.
Common questions
Why does the forum matter?
A court applies its own state’s choice-of-law rules, and in federal diversity cases the federal court applies the rules of the state where it sits.
What is a false conflict?
A case where only one state has an interest in having its law applied, so the choice is easy. A true conflict is where two states each have an interest.
Can the parties choose the law?
For contracts, usually yes, within limits. For torts, parties generally cannot choose the law in advance.
Learn the law behind the tool
This tool is part of our Conflict of Laws course, with lectures, concept maps, flashcards, interactive exercises and a capstone case. Conflict of Laws: Choice of Law in Torts.
More free law tools
General information, simplified, mainly on American law, not legal advice. States and countries differ, and real cases turn on facts that a tool cannot capture.