Conflict of laws

Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad topics: jurisdiction, rules regarding when it is appropriate for a court to hear such a case; foreign judgments, dealing with the rules by which a court in one jurisdiction mandates compliance with a ruling of a court in another jurisdiction; and choice of law, which addresses the question of which substantive laws will be applied in such a case. These issues can arise in any private law context, but they are especially prevalent in contract law and tort law.

In practice, conflict-of-laws issues also arise in international arbitration, particularly in jurisdictions that maintain distinct procedural regimes for domestic and international proceedings. Academic commentary has noted that, in dualist systems such as Colombia, the characterization of an arbitration as domestic or international may affect the applicable procedural framework and the grounds for annulment, with international awards being subject to a more limited review focused on fundamental due process guarantees and international public policy rather than substantive reconsideration of the merits.