The Relation Between Private Interational Law And Constitutional Law In Federal Systems

This article is exploring and analogy, its purpose is not to identify or comment on the present rules or practice of private international law in federal systems, but rather to examine the ideas and theories relating to private international law which have been developed in these states as a result of their federal structure, the ways in which the ideas of private international law have been affected by or are part of the constitutional ordering of the federal systems. These ideas are operative and they may still be usefully applied by way analogy in the context of the emerging idea of international federalism. The idea involves secondary norms which deal with distribution of regulatory authority between states and between the international and national realms. By looking at the effect on private international law of equivalent norms within federal systems, the article identifies a conceptual framework which provides the foundations for a new perspective on international private law.