Abstract

In the first half of the 19th century, the jurists of Walachia knew and put in practice some choice-of-law principles drawn upon the French theory of statutes as it was revised by Section 3 of the Code Napoleon and by the adjacent French doctrine (especially by J.A.Rogron’s writings). The cultural effect of these principles was so great that the Romanian Civil Code (the Code Alexandru Ioan the Ist) accepted them in Section 2 and the Romanian legal doctrine supported them even in the 20th century. Using Ioan Barbatescu’s book, published in Bucharest, in 1849, and entitled “The Course of the Romanian Civil Law or the Explanation of the Paragraphs of the Civil Laws Following the Order of the Code Caragea” we are able to summarize these choice-of-law principles: 1. The capacity and the civil status of a person are governed by the law of the state of citizenship. 2. The immovables are governed by the law of the place where they are situated. 3. The movables are governed by the law of the place where they were situated at the time of the conclusion of the contract. 4. The form of a juridical act is governed by the law of the state where the act was concluded. 5. The fulfillment of a juridical act or the enforcement of a judgment is governed by the law of the state where the fulfillment or the enforcement will take place.