American Conflicts Law 5th Edition

Presents an overview of the American conflicts law. This book covers conflict of laws in criminal cases, the substance-procedure distinction, and an examination of conflict-of-laws issues under all systems in particular substantive areas. Included are chapters on contracts, workers' compensation, tangible and intangible personality, and more.

American Conflicts Law is a comprehensive text designed to be used as a companion to all modern casebooks currently used in courses in Conflict of Laws in United States' law schools. The sixth edition of American Conflicts Law continues the tradition of the first five editions in covering all important topics included in the Conflicts course. However, the text has been completely reorganized and shortened to achieve a succinct, but in-depth, treatment of this conceptually difficult subject. The revised and shortened version of the text will better meet the needs of law students for an informative and manageable study aid for the course in Conflict of Laws. Chapter One briefly introduces the subject and traces the historical evolution of Conflicts doctrine in the United States. Chapters Two and Three then establish the foundation for the exploration of conflict-of-laws in the United States by providing background in the modern law of personal jurisdiction and interstate judgment enforcement--subjects that provide critical background for understanding choice-of-law theory. Chapter Four introduces students to the choice-of-law systems currently prevailing in the United States, together with critical commentary on each system. Chapter Five rounds out the coverage of choice-of-law systems with a discussion of numerous topics, such as Domicile and Proof of Foreign Law, that are common to all systems. Chapter Six then explores the constitutional limits that exist on state conflict-of-laws doctrine in the United States, with special attention to the Due Process and Full Faith and Credit Clauses of the United States Constitution. Chapter Seven ends the general material with an examination of "vertical choice of law,"--the so-called Erie doctrine that governs the obligations of federal courts to apply state law in diversity and other actions. After this general background material, Chapters Eight through Twelve apply the general principles examined in Chapters One through Seven to particular topics. These chapters include coverage of conflict-of-laws problems in Torts (Chapter Eight), Contracts (Chapter Nine), Property (Chapter Ten), Inheritance (Chapter Eleven), and Domestic Relations (Chapter Twelve). The revised text of the new sixth edition has, of course, been updated to include coverage of all modern developments since the fifth edition. This includes coverage in Chapter Four of the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in Townsend v. Sears Roebuck & Co., 879 N.E.2d 893 (2007) and, in Chapter Seven, the United States Supreme Court's decision under the Erie doctrine of Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates v. Allstate Insurance Co., 130 S. Ct. 1431(2010). The most important and relevant contemporary writing on Conflict of Laws has also been added to the footnotes. The authors believe that the revised sixth edition of American Conflicts Law will provide a useful tool with which to complete the understanding of modern choice-of-law doctrine in United States law schools.

View or download the 2018 Supplement to this book here. The Sixth Edition of American Conflicts Law: Cases and Materials continues the organizational pattern of the Fifth Edition, along with the problem approach adopted there. However, in Chapters 8, dealing with the Erie doctrine, and Chapter 10, dealing with the topic of personal jurisdiction, there have been extensive updates and additions. Chapter 8 has been compressed by inclusion of an extensive note following the Supreme Court's decision in Burlington Northern Railroad v. Woods, 480 U.S. 1 (1987). The note traces developments after Burlington Northern and before the Supreme Court's latest decision in Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates v. Allstate Insurance Co., 518 U.S. 415 (2010). The note replaces a number of cases that were formerly reprinted in the casebook and eliminates the tedium of covering those cases in their entirety. Together with problems and additional note material following the Shady Grove case, the new materials provide a comprehensive but eminently teachable package for the topic. In Chapter 10, four principal cases have been added to update the Supreme Court's continuing activity in the personal jurisdiction area. Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, 564 U.S. ___, 131 S. Ct. 2846 (2011) and Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 746 (2013) are the Court's latest decisions in the area of "general jurisdiction." They have been added to the chapter with appropriate note material. In the area of "specific jurisdiction," the Court's recent decisions in McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, 564 U.S. ___, 131 S. Ct. 2780 (2011) and Walden v. Fiore, 571 U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 1115 (2014), have been added, also with appropriate note material. Throughout the casebook, the note material has been updated with citations to and discussions of the latest decisions in each topic area covered. A comprehensive Teacher's Manual contains summaries of the main cases, suggestions about alternative course coverage, and the authors' ideas about coverage of the cases, materials, and problems also is available.