Common Law Approach

Imagine a Mumbai merchant who moved to London forty years ago, kept his Indian passport, visits Crawford Market every winter, and says he will "go home one day". An English judge has to decide where he is domiciled, and the only evidence is how he lived and what he said. The common law built its rules of domicile in exactly such cases. This topic sets out those rules, because Indian courts have long borrowed them.

In two minutes

The common law treats domicile as a person's permanent home in law, sorted into origin, choice and dependence, with a strong presumption that the existing domicile continues, a heavy burden on anyone alleging change, and revival of the domicile of origin when a domicile of choice is abandoned.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Conflict of Laws on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.