Bartolus on the Conflict of Laws
Coverage: 1 v. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914.
Additional Information: Probably the first doctrine on the conflict of laws, this is a portion of Bartolus's commentary on Justinian's Code and its glosses, his Supr Primam et Secundam Partem Codicis Commentaria. It takes into account local customs and statutes, and contains what may be the first clear recognition of the principle that the lex loci governs the validity of a legal act. Bartolus also appreciated the distinction between laws effective only within the territor and laws that might have operation outside the territory, a distinction that assumed great importance in later continental writings on the subject. Bartolus attempted to derive principles suitable to his time from the accumulated layers of local, feudal and Roman law.