lex fori
Meaning. The law of the country in which the court hearing the case sits.
In private international law, lex fori is the law of the forum. Procedure is always governed by it: the mode of trial, evidence, remedies and, in most systems, limitation. The forum’s own conflict-of-laws rules also decide which foreign law, if any, governs the substance of the dispute.
A court will refuse to apply a foreign law that offends the public policy of the forum, and will not enforce foreign penal or revenue laws. So even where the substance is governed by a foreign lex causae, an Indian court applies Indian procedural law.
Example
Although the contract was governed by English law, the Indian court applied the CPC as the lex fori to questions of procedure.
In Indian law
- Section 13, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (when foreign judgments are not conclusive)
See also
lex loci contractus · lex situs · renvoi · forum non conveniens
Read more in the study notes
- Substantive law and procedural law (Jurisprudence)