The following entry contains the Black Letter to §§ 5.06 and 5.07 of Tentative Draft No. 1, Chapter 5. Choice of Law, Topic 2. Foreign Law, from Restatement of the Law Third, Conflict of Laws. The full draft contains additional Comments and Reporters’ Notes.

This project was on the 2020 Annual Meeting agenda before the Meeting was cancelled due to COVID-19. Accordingly, this text has not been considered by the membership of The American Law Institute and therefore does not represent the position of the Institute on any of the issues with which it deals. This supplement may be revised or supplemented prior to consideration by the membership in May 2021. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this or any other Section of this project, please contact us.

If you would like to learn more about the contents of Tentative Draft No. 1, watch this video overview by Reporters Kermit Roosevelt III, Laura E. Little, and Christopher A. Whytock.

§ 5.06. Notice of Foreign Law
(a) A party who intends to raise an issue about foreign law must give the court and the other parties reasonable written notice.
(b) If no party has given notice under subsection (a) but the court intends to raise an issue about foreign law, the court should give the parties reasonable notice.
§ 5.07. Information About Foreign Law
(a) In determining foreign law, the court may consider any relevant material or source, including testimony, whether or not admissible under the applicable rules of evidence.
(b) The parties are primarily responsible for submitting information about foreign law. The court may also obtain information about foreign law on its own.
(c) If the court has insufficient information to determine foreign law, it should ask the parties for more information, seek more information on its own, or both. If the parties do not provide and the court does not obtain sufficient information to determine foreign law, the court ordinarily applies forum law.

Kermit Roosevelt, III

Reporter, Conflict of Laws

Kermit Roosevelt is Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He works in a diverse range of fields, focusing on constitutional law and conflict of laws. His latest academic book, Conflict of Laws (Foundation Press 2010) offers an accessible analytical overview of conflicts. He also is the author of two novels, Allegiance (Regan Arts, 2015) and In the Shadow of the Law (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005).

Laura Elizabeth Little

Associate Reporter, Restatement of the Law Third, Conflict of Laws

Laura E. Little serves as the Charles Klein Professor of Law and Government and Senior Advisor to the Dean. She specializes in federal courts, conflict of laws, and constitutional law. She is the author of numerous books and articles, including a sole-authored casebook, Conflict of  Laws (Aspen Wolters Kluwer 2013), a treatise, Federal Courts, currently in its Third Edition in Aspen Publishing’s Examples and Explanations series, and a book on humor and the law (Oxford forthcoming 2017).

Christopher A. Whytock

Associate Reporter, Conflict of Laws

Christopher Whytock is Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, and a faculty affiliate and member of the advisory board of the UCI Center in Law, Society and Culture. His research focuses on transnational litigation, conflict of laws, international law, and the role of domestic law and domestic courts in global governance.

Pauline Toboulidis

The American Law Institute

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