Conflict of Laws (Law 608)                              University of Mississippi

Spring 2007                                                       Law School

TTH 11:00 am-12:20 pm                                   Professor M.H. Hoffheimer

room 104

Syllabus

Requirements

          Class attendance, preparation, and participation are required. Please do not come to class late.

          Closed book exam: April 30, at 9:00 a.m., room 104.

          The final grade will be based on the grade earned on the final exam and any quizzes. In rare cases, a grade may be raised by up to one full grade for extraordinary contribution to class discussion. Quizzes may be administered in class during the semester without advance notice. Quizzes will count for no more than one-third of the final grade.

Office Hours

          Office: Law Center 565. Phone: 915-6865. mhoffhei@olemiss.edu. I am at my office weekdays and you can either come by without an appointment or may make an appointment.

Materials

Constitution of the United States

Lea Brilmayer & Jack Goldsmith, Conflict of Laws: Cases & Materials (5th ed. 2002)

M.H. Hoffheimer, Mississippi Conflict of Laws, 67 Miss. L.J. 175-321 (1997)

Supplementary materials distributed during the semester

Topics

I.        Recognition of Judgments

Casebook and Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113 (1895), Taham v. Hodgson, 662 F.2d 862 (D.C. Cir. 1981), and Uniform Foreign Country Money-Judgment Recognition Act § 4

II.       Choice of Law

          A.    Traditional territorial approaches and the Restatement [1st] of the Law of Conflict of Laws: Casebook and Miss. Code Ann. § 13-1-149, § 15-1-65, § 91-1-1, § 93-1-1, § 93-1-3, § 97-29-27

          B.    Newer approaches: Casebook and McDaniel v. Ritter, 556 So. 2d 303 (Miss. 1989)

III.      Erie, Federal Torts Claim Act, and federal Choice of Law

          Casebook

IV.      Constitutional Limits on Choice of Law

          Casebook and U.S. Const.

V. Sovereign Immunity

          Supplementary materials

VI. Equal Protection and Privileges and Immunities Problems

          Casebook and supplemetary materials