Laws Of Domicile In India

[PTLB]

Laws of domicile are scattered in India and are shaped by different laws and judicial precedents. This has made the concept of domicile technical and complicated, especially when conflict of laws or private international law is involved. For almost two decades, this masterpiece by Visionary Praveen Dalal has guided national and international clients of Perry4Law and global stakeholders in resolving their domicile related legal issues. Domicile is also relevant for conflict of laws purposes, so we are starting with this work that has been most widely and actively used in India and other jurisdiction since its publication in 2004.

I. Introduction

Domicile which is a private international law or conflict of laws concept identifies a person, in cases having a foreign element, with a territory subject to a single system of law, which is regarded as his personal law. A person is domiciled in the country in which he is considered to have his permanent home. His domicile is of the whole country, being governed by common rules of law, and not confined to a part of it. No one can be without a domicile and no one can have two domiciles. A domicile of origin is attributed to every person at birth by operation of law. This domicile is not decided by his place of birth or by the place of residence of his father or mother, but by the domicile of the appropriate parent at the time of his birth, according as he is legitimate or illegitimate. It is possible for the domicile of origin to be transmitted through several generations no member of which has ever resided for any length of time in the country of the domicile of origin. When a person is referred to as domiciled in a country, the expression ‘country’ is used in private international law as a term of art denoting, in the words of dicey, the whole of a territory subject under one sovereign to one body of law. But in a federation like the United States, Australia, or Canada, or in a composite State like the United Kingdom, different systems of law may prevail in different regions in respect of certain matters. In such cases, each of the territories governed by a separate system of law is treated, for the purpose of private international law, as a ‘country’, though in public international law or constitutional law it is not a separate sovereign State. This is, however, not the position in India. Though a Union of States, and a federation in that sense, the whole country is governed by a single unified system of law, with a unified system of judicial administration, notwithstanding the constitutional distribution of legislative powers between the Centre and the States. There is no State-wise domicile within the territory of India. A man who is domiciled in India is domiciled in every State in India and identified with a territorial system of legal rules pervading throughout the country. He is ‘domiciled’ in the whole of this country, even though his permanent home may be located in a particular spot within it . Thus, the concept of “domicile” varies from country to country and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

See Laws Of Domicile In India post for more.

[Author]

Posts