The law which regulates the intercourse of nations; the law of nations. 1 Kent, Comm. 1, 4. The customary law which determines the rights and regulates the intercourse of inde- pendent states in peace and war. 1 Wildm. Int. Law, 1. The system of rules and principles, founded on treaty, custom, precedent, and the consensus of opinion as to justice and moral obligation , which civilized nations recognize as binding upon them in their mutual dealings and relations. Ileirn v. Bridault, 37 Miss. 230; U. S. v. White (C. C.) 27 Fed. 201. Public international law is the body of rules which control the conduct of independ- ent states in their relations with each other. Private international law is that branch of municipal law which determines before the courts of what nation a particular action or suit should be brought, and by the law of what nation it should be determined; in other words, it regulates private rights as dependent on a diversity of municipal laws and jurisdictions applicable to the persons, facts, or things in dispute, and the subject of it is hence sometimes called the ” conflict of laws .” Thus, questions whether a given person owes allegiance to a particular state where he is domiciled, whether his status, property, rights, and duties are governed by the lex sit (Is. the lex loci, the lex fori, or the lex domicilii, are questions with which pri- vate international law has to deal. Sweet; Roche v. Washington, 19 Ind. 55, 81 Am. Dec. 37a
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
