§ 1 T H E P A R T I C U L A R N A T U R E O F T H E C H O I C E O F L A W C O N N E C T I O N : U N I T Y - S C I S S I O N
A N o .
B Yes. Scotland uses différent Connecting factors for movable and f o r immovable property i n the law of succession. When Scots law is the one which performs the catégorisation into movable and immovable, it makes a division which is similar to, but not identical with, the division made i n Scottish municipal law be-tween movables and héritage. The catégorisation as either movable or immovable falls to be made accord-ing to the law of the country where the property is situated.
C a Not applicable.
b I n principle, the scission is based upon the actual State of the property at the moment of death and is therefore final as at that date.
1 A change i n the character of the property, e.g.
sale of an immovable, after death but before distribu-tion would not affect the characterizadistribu-tion of the prop-erty as at the date of death. I t would remain immova-ble f o r the purpose of selecting a Connecting factor.
I n internai Scots law, the rights of a beneficiary may be affected by contracts for sale or purchase of héritage entered into by the deceased, or by instructions given to his executors, but thèse internai rules do not affect the characterization of the property f o r purposes of private international law. The English case of Re Réponses/Replies
Berchtold (1923) 1 Ch. 192 is generally accepted as authority in Scotland f o r the principle that character-ization is effected as at the date of death irrespective of instructions by the deceased.
There is no formai doctrine of substitution or real subrogation known by either of thèse names but the effect of the Scottish rules would be much the same as that produced by a doctrine of substitution i n that a change in the character of the property after death would be totally disregarded in settling the division of the estate. I f an immovable to which a beneficiary had a spécifie right were sold, the beneficiary would be entitled to property to the value of the immovable, and might, under the law of trusts, be entitled to trace the actual proceeds of sale in the hands of the trustée.
I f immovables in country A are purchased after the de-ceased's death with movable assets governed by the law of B, the question would arise i n a Scottish court only i f Scotland were either A or B. Despite the strong tendency to refer ail matters conceming immovable property to the lex situs, i f immovables i n Scotland were purchased with movables governed by a foreign System, Scottish courts would apply the principle that characterization is fixed at the date of death and refer the succession to the foreign system.
Conversely, i f foreign immovables were bought w i t h movable property governed by Scots law, Scottish courts would take the view that the immovable should still be governed by Scots law - subjects always to the overriding power of the lex situs of the immovable to take and enforce a différent view.
2 When Scotland is the situs of the property and i n -come, and thus has to catégorise it, such income as is derived f r o m movables will clearly also be movable.
Income derived f r o m immovables w i l l normally con-sist of rents, but could include interest on heritable bonds. ( A heritable bond is one i n which the debtor's Personal obligation is subordinated to the real security over land afforded by a conveyance of the land.) I t is not clear how thèse forms of income would be classified f o r international purposes. Income already ac-crued at the date of death would be movable as it would have formed part of the deceased's movable estate i f paid to h i m by then. Income arising f r o m immovables after death might be classed as movable on the same principles, but alternatively might be treated as immov-able on the basis that they would have accrued to the ultimate beneficiary had the conveyance to h i m been made immediately after the deceased's death. I t is thought that a classification as immovable would be the more likely.
3 Liabilities are also divided into movable and immov-able. The gênerai principle would be that ail debts of the estate are movable unless clearly made immovable by being secured over (made a charge on) an immov-able. Thus where a real security or real burden has been validly created over land i n Scotland, the liability is immovable and the beneficiary taking the land takes it subject to the burden. For example, on intestacy, a widow is entitled to the deceased's interest i n the matri-monial home situated i n Scotland, but takes it subject to any heritable debt secured over the interest. [Suc-cession (Scotland) Act 1964 sec. 8 (6) d\.
§ 2 T H E C O N N E C T I N G F A C T O P .
A N o t applicable.
B a The law applicable to immovables i n the estate is the law of the place where they are situated.
b The law applicable to movables i n the estate is the domiciliary law of the deceased.
Réponses/Replies 91
Both of thèse propositions are subject to the qualifica-tion that f o r the purpose of deciding whether a w i l l has been vaUdly executed, the Wills A c t 1963 pre-scribes a variety o f Connecting factors including nation-ality and habituai résidence. This Act was designated to permit the U . K . Government to ratify the Hague Convention on the Conflicts of Laws relating to the F o r m of Testamentary Dispositions made on 5th Oc-tober, 1961.
C a N o t applicable.
b The Scottish use of domicile is virtually identical with that of England, so that Scottish cases such as Udny v. Udny and Ramsay v. Liverpool Royal In-firmary are regularly cited as authorities in England and Enghsh authorities are cited in Scotland. I t is assumed that a very brief account will suffice. Domicile can be totally divorced f r o m habituai résidence or indeed f r o m any résidence at all so as to become virtually fictitious.
A domicile of origin is attributed at birth, being the domicile of the father i f the child is legitimate, and this domicile of origin not only persists until changed but w i l l revive in the interval between loss of one domicile of choice and acquisition of another. A married woman automatica.lly has the domicile of her husband, even after judicial séparation, and irrespective of her domi-cile of origin or of her habituai résidence.
One respect in which Scots law differs f r o m English lies in its. treatment of children. Children i n pupillarity ( f r o m birth to the âge of twelve f o r females and four-teen f o r maies) have a domicile dépendent upon that of the appropriate parent (i.e. the father i f the child is legitimate and the mother i f the child is illegitimate or the father is dead). The Scottish pupil is thus in much the same position as the infant in England.
However, between the termination of pupillarity at 12 or 14 and the acquisition of majority at 18 there is in Scots law a status of minority in which the minor has considérable contractual and other powers. I n principle, Ihis means that a minor has the capacity to acquire a domicile of choice of his own and is not automatically dépendent upon his parent's domicile. However législa-tion imposing compulsory school éducalégisla-tion until the âge of fifteen and giving courts power to award custody of a child until the âge of sixteen create practical obstacles for a minor seeking to establish an independent domicile of choice.
Thus the spécifie question may be answered as follows -1 I n so far as one is referring to the acquisition or abandonment of a domicile of choice by those free to acquire such a domicile, the domicile is governed by factual notions and resembles habituai résidence.
2 However, as Scotland uses the notion of a domicile of origin and of a légal domicile of married women and pupil children there are circumstances in which a domicile may be wholly fictitious and divorced f r o m the reality of résidence.
D a N o t applicable, except to the extent that nation-ality is a Connecting factor quoad formai validity of wills. I n that case, a référence to the national law of a country w i t h a plurilegislative légal System is clarified by treating the référence to the national law as a référ-ence to that one of the Systems in the country of na-tionality w i t h which the deceased was most closely con-nected [Wills Act 1963 s. 6 ( 2 ) . ]
b I n this situation one would refer to that one of the Personal légal Systems existing in the country of the domicile which that country would itself apply.
There would be no occasion to apply the law of the domicile of origin, or the national law, or the lex fori.
e I t is not seen that this raises any problem not dealt with in a and b above.
§ 3 C O R R E C T I V E S C A P A B L E OF M O D I F Y I N G T H E C O N N E C T I N G F A C T O R
A I t is thought that a doctrine of renvoi might be applied by Scottish courts in the search f o r the law of succession, but as yet the matter has not arisen f o r considération. Answers are thus purely spéculative.
a N o t applicable.
b 1 It seems possible that Scots law would accept the renvoi f r o m the law of the domicile to Scots law as the law of the nationaUty.
2 Quoad immovable property, the only appUcable law is the lex situs. Hence Scots law would be applied and there would be no référence to the law of the domicile at all.
3 As in 2, quoad immovable property there would be a direct référence to the lex situs, and country B would not be involved. Quoad movables it is not known whether Scots law ( A ) would give effect to a référence by the law of the domicile ( B ) to the law of the nation-ality ( C ) , but it is possible that it might.
There would, however, be strong arguments that the référence should be to the internai law of the country of domicile and not to its rules of conflict of laws.
4 I f Scots law would accept the transmission f r o m country B to country C in the first place, it seems pos-sible that it would apply the renvoi f r o m C to B, but this can only be spéculation in the total absence of authority.
e I f the law of country B, as the situs of an immova-ble, refers either back to A or on to C, the respect paid to the physical control of the situs over an immovable would probably mean that the view taken by B would be accepted and applied by Scots law.
d I t is thought that, apart f r o m the qualification f o r immovable property mentioned in c, above, Scots law would not apply the foreign court theory.
B a N o . b N o .
C a N o - except to the extent that he might refer the interprétation of the terms used in his w i l l to an-other System.
b I n the very limited situation in which it is possible, there would be no restriction upon his choice of the System to interpret.
Section I I Extent and limits of the application of the law of succession
§ 1 T H E ' R É S E R V E ' , T H E P O R T I O N O F T H E I N H E R I T A N C E A V A I L A B L E F O R D I S P O S I T I O N , A N D T H E R E -S T R I C T I O N -S O N T H E F R E E D O M O F T H E T E -S T A T O R T O D I S P O S E O F H I S P R O P E R T Y B Y W I L L
A Yes.
B N o t applicable.
c « I n Scotland, the surviving spouse and children can choose to accept the provisions of the will or al-ternatively may claim their légal rights. I n the latter case dispositions by the testator which exceed the por-tion available f o r disposipor-tion are simply eut down pro rata. I f the rules of the System governing the succes-sion eut down testamentary provisucces-sions beyond the per-mitted limit, effect would be given to those rules in Scotland.
b I n Scots Law a gift inter vivos, even i f expressly for the purpose of defeating légal rights, is effective as the rights exist only in the estate owned hy the deçeased at death. However, effect would be given to a rule in the System governing succession that inter vivos gifts exceeding the portion available for disposition could be ignored.
D a Not applicable.
b 1 Yes. A n y 'réserves' applied by the law of the domicile to movable property and by the lex situs to immovable property would receive effect in Scotland.
2 Yes. I n the example quoted, the very great i m -portance attached to the lex situs in the succession to immovables would mean that it would be a matter for the law of country A to détermine whether Secundus could both accept his testamentary provision and also claim his 'réserve' against the terms of the will.
3 I n Scotland there is a clear rule that, apart f r o m heritable debts {i.e. debts secured over land), the debts of the deçeased are met out of his movable estate and only i f the movables are exhausted may the land be brought into calculation. Scottish courts would proba-bly assume that a similar rule exists elsewhere. I f Scot-land were the domicile and the place where the mov-ables were, it would certainly calculate the légal rights on the net movable estate after payment of ail debts other than those expressly secured over land.
§ 2 D I R E C T T R A N S M I S S I O N TO T H E H E I R S ; A D M I N -I S T R A T -I O N OF T H E E S T A T E
A Scots law séparâtes two issues here. The first is the right to administer the deceased's estate, and the second is the title to administer. The right to administer probably falls to be determined by the law of the domi-cile. Certainly the executor appointed by the law of the domicile, or the heir entitled under that law to ad-minister will be regarded as having the primary right to administer in Scotland and there are reciprocal pro-visions within the United Kingdom f o r giving automatic effect to appointments by the law of the domicile in the other Systems of the U . K .
However, the f o r m the administration takes, and the title of the administrator are matters f o r the lex situs of the property. Thus although a German heir who would administer directly in Germany would probably be re-garded as entitled to administer in Scotland, he would have to be confirmed in the office of executor by the Scottish court before he could have authority to in-tromit with property in Scotland.
Hence the most accurate answer seems lo be that the lex situs of the assets is décisive on the f o r m of admin-istration.
B N o t applicable.
C a Hypothesis I 1 Yes.
2 N o . Réponses/Replies
3 Yes. This would be the normal practice.
4 Yes.
5 The normal practice would be to make over the net balance to the persons compétent to conduct the ad-ministration according to the law of succession, but circumstances might arise - e.g. lack of an administrator in the country of succession through lack of assets there - in which the Scottish executor would transfer property directly to the beneficiaries.
b Hypothesis II 1 Yes.
2 N o .
D N o t applicable.
Section I I I International jurisdiction in matters of suc-cession
a The deceased's domicile is irrelevant.
b The situs of the assets, movable or immovable, is the primary basis of jurisdiction in questions of title to administer, and in actions relating to immovables in Scotland, there is jurisdiction based solely on the situation of the immovables irrespective of any personal j u -risdiction over the defender.
c Nationality of the deçeased is irrelevant.
d I f an administration takes place within the jurisdic-tion there may be jurisdicjurisdic-tion to hear an acjurisdic-tion brought against the executor, but on the ground that the exec-utor is subject to the jurisdiction, not merely because the administration is taking place there or took place there in the past.
e 1 Nationality of the parties is irrelevant.
2 Domicile of the plaintiff (or in Scotland 'pursuer') is irrelevant.
3 I f the assets are placed in the hands of the court (in Scotland by the process of multiplepoinding) the court has jurisdiction irrespective of whether the defend-ers are pdefend-ersonally subject to the jurisdiction. Sirriilarly arrestment of movables ad fundandam jurisdictionem will create jurisdiction, but it would not necessarily be expected that other countries would recognise decrees based on this ground of jurisdiction. Séquestration in Scotland is a bankruptcy proceeding.
4 Except f o r the spécial case of itinérants with no fixed abode, mere service of a writ within the jurisdiction does not by itself create jurisdiction.
/ Résidence of the defender is the primary basis of jurisdiction in personal actions. This is genuine rési-dence and not domicile.
A n interest in héritage in Scotland gives jurisdiction against the possessor of that interest in the capacity in which he holds it.
Suède/Sweden
Le Questionnaire et le Commentaire traitent du droit non conventionnel des Etats membres. Pour cetté raison, le Ministère de la Justice ne se prononce pas sur la très importante Convention nordique du 19 novembre 1934 relative à l'héritage et à la liquidation des successions
(V. le Commentaire, section I , § 2, A , b).
La jurisprudence suédoise sur le droit international privé des successions est très limitée. Par conséquent,
Réponses/Replies 93
les réponses se basent en premier lieu sur la loi du 5 mars 1937 relative aux rapports internationaux en ma-tière de successions. I l y a lieu de signaler qu'une com-mission spéciale, constituée par le Ministère de la Justice, a présenté un avant-projet de r é f o r m e du droit inter-national privé suédois des successions.
Section I Détermination de la loi applicable à la suc-cession - Loi successorale
§1 CARACTÈRES D U R A T T A C H E M E N T : UNITÉ -S C I -S -S I O N
A et B La Suède suit le principe de l'unité de la loi applicable à la succession.
Toutefois, en ce qui concerne certaines espèces d'im-meubles, à savoir les majorats etc., le droit du lieu de la situation de l'immeuble est applicable (article 2 du chapitre 1er de la loi du 5 mars 1937).
C L'article 9 du chapitre I I de la loi du 5 mars 1937 dispose que, lors de la réglementation ainsi que du partage des biens matrimoniaux et de la succession, i l faut porter en compte ce qui, au cours d'une procédure analogue dans un pays étranger, a été attribué aux créanciers, à l'époux survivant ainsi qu'aux héritiers. Par conséquent, une atténuation au principe de l'unité n'est pas admise par la loi du 5 mars 1937 lorsque des biens situés à l'étranger sont dévolus d'une manière différente de celle qu'imposerait ladite l o i .
§ 2 C I R C O N S T A N C E S D E R A T T A C H E M E N T
A et B Selon le droit international privé suédois, la succession est soumise à la l o i nationale du d é f u n t (ar-ticle premier du chapitre 1er de la loi du 5 mars 1937).
C En ce qui concerne les cas de double nationalité, les règles suivantes sont applicables. Si le d é f u n t était ressortissant suédois, la doctrine suédoise estime en général que seule la nationalité suédoise entre en ligne de compte. Si, par contre, le d é f u n t était ressortissant de deux pays autres que la Suède, la nationalité qui pré-vaut est celle du pays avec lequel le d é f u n t avait le lien le plus effectif.
Lorsque le d é f u n t est apatride, la jurisprudence a choisi comme point de rattachement un domicile re-posant sur les notions de fait, se rapprochant de la ré-sidence habituelle.
D Si la loi nationale d'un étranger est applicable selon la loi du 5 mars 1937 et si dans l'Etat dont i l est res-sortissant des systèmes juridiques différents sont en vigueur, le choix entre ces systèmes doit se faire d'a-près les dispositions légales de cet Etat. A défaut de telles dispositions, on applique le droit en vigueur dans le lieu du domicile de l'étranger ou, s'il n'est pas domi-cilié dans le pays étranger dont i l est ressortissant ou s'il n'y était pas domicilié au moment de son décès, le droit du lieu où était son dernier domicile dans ce pays ou, à défaut d'un tel domicile, le droit en vigueur dans la capitale du pays en question (article premier du chapitre I I I de la loi du 5 mars 1937).
La règle précitée n'est pas une règle de renvoi, car on ne tient compte que des lois faisant partie du système juridique non unifié d'un seul pays.
§ 3 C O R R E C T I F S S U S C E P T I B L E S D'ÊTRE APPORTÉS A U R A T T A C H E M E N T
A La jurisprudence suédoise n'accepte pas le renvoi en ce qui concerne la détermination de la l o i applicable
à la succession (Cour suprême N J A 1939, p. 9 6 ) .
28 février 1939
B N i la nationalité ni le domicile des héritiers n'in-fluent sur le facteur de rattachement (sauf d'après une règle tout à fait spéciale qui n'a jamais été appliquée
B N i la nationalité ni le domicile des héritiers n'in-fluent sur le facteur de rattachement (sauf d'après une règle tout à fait spéciale qui n'a jamais été appliquée