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property is situate. Hence it was admitted that a person might have as many domiciles as he had residences possessing some degree of permanence. In the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages, when a See also:

GREAT

great diversity of See also:

LAWS

laws had arisen, questions concerning See also:

PERSONAL

personal status, as the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority or the capacity to contract a given See also:

MARRIAGE

marriage, came naturally to depend on the law to which the person was subject by reason of the See also:

general jurisdiction over him; and questions See also:

RELATING

relating to the various items of his movable property grouped together, as those of his testamentary capacity or of the See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession on his See also:

INTESTACY (Lat. intestates, one who has not made a will, from testari, to, bear witness)

intestacy, had to be considered from a similarly personal point of view. There resulted a general agreement that a man's legal See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character, so to speak, should be determined by his domicile, and this introduced a stricter notion of domicile, allowing each person to have but one. He might be subjected without great inconvenience to more than one jurisdiction, but not to more than one law. This is the position which domicile now holds in See also:

ENGLISH

English jurisprudence. It is the criterion of the law applicable in a large class of cases, and it must be single for each person; and English courts have continually to struggle with the difficulty of selecting his domicile from among the various places in any of which he may be said to reside. Since the beginning of the 19th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century most of the leading See also:

CONTINENTAL

continental states have unified their See also:

INTERNAL

internal laws; and See also:

ATTACHMENT

attachment to a See also:

province by domicile having thus become an unnecessary See also:

CONSIDERATION (from Lat. considerare, to look at closely, examine, generally taken to be from con-, and the base seen in sidus, sideris, a star, the word being supposed to be originally an astrological or astronomical term)

consideration, they have adopted See also:

POLITICAL

political See also:

NATIONALITY

nationality as the criterion of the law to be applied in most of the questions which used to depend on domicile. Thus as between themselves they have greatly simplified the determination of those questions, but a similar elimination of domicile is impossible in what concerns See also:

BRITISH

British subjects, because the British See also:

EMPIRE

empire continues to include a great variety of laws, as those of See also:

England, See also:

Scotland, the province of See also:

QUEBEC

Quebec, the Cape See also:

COLONY (Lat. colonia, from colonus, a cultivator)

Colony, &c. Within the British dominions domicile is the only available criterion of the legal character of a British subject, and all British courts continue to apply the same criterion to British subjects outside those dominions and to foreigners, so that, for example, the age of majority of a British subject or of a Frenchman domiciled in See also:

Germany would be referred by a British See also:

court to See also:

German law. Indeed so deeply is the principle of domicile seated in British law that only legislative See also:

ACTION

action could allow a British court to substitute a new principle.

And even a See also:

French, See also:

ITALIAN

Italian or German court, applying political nationality as its new criterion to the legal character of a British subject, could obtain no definite result unless it supplemented that criterion by the old one, domicile, in See also:

order to connect the person in question with one of the legal systems existing in the British dominions. Again, so See also:

long as the See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change of the criterion has not become universal, a new question is introduced by its having been made in some countries only. See also:

Denmark being one of those See also:

EUROPEAN

European states which still adhere to the principle of domicile, we will take it as an example in order not to complicate the See also:

ILLUSTRATION

illustration by such See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences of internal law as exist in the British dominions. Suppose that a Danish court has to decide on the age of majority of a Danish subject domiciled in See also:

France, See also:

Italy or Germany. Its See also:

RULE

rule refers the question to the law of the domicile, and the law of the domicile refers it back to the law of the political nationality. What is to be done? This and all other questions relating to the application of the principle of domicile, which has been only summarily indicated, are treated under See also:

INTERNATIONAL, THE

INTERNATIONAL LAW (PRIVATE). Here we shall See also:

DEAL

deal briefly with the determination of domicile itself. The Roman jurists defined domicile to be the place " ubi quis larem rerumque ac fortunarum summam constituit; underursus non sit discessurus si nihil avocet: unde cum profectus est, peregrinari videtur: quo si rediit peregrinari jam destitit." This makes that place the domicile which may be described as the headquarters of the person concerned; but a man's habits of See also:

LIFE

life may point to no place, or may point equally to two places, as his headquarters, and the connexion of domicile with law requires that a man shall always have a domicile, and never more than one. The former of these difficulties is met in the manner described by See also:

Lord See also:

Westbury in Udny v. Udny (Law Reports, i See also:

House of Lords, Scottish Appeals). "It is," he said, "a settled principle that no man shall be without a domicile, and to secure this end the law attributes to every individual as soon as he is See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born the domicile of his See also:

FATHER

father, if the See also:

child be legitimate, and the domicile of his See also:

MOTHER

mother, if the child be illegitimate.

This is called the domicile of origin, and is involuntary. It is the creation of the law, not of the party. It may be extinguished by See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act of law, as for example by See also:

SENTENCE (Lat. sententia, a way of thinking, opinion, judgment; vote, sentire, to feel, think)

sentence of See also:

DEATH

death or See also:

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap, consul, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

exile for life, which destroys the status See also:

CIVILIS, CLAUDIUS

civilis of the criminal; but it cannot be destroyed by the will and act of the party. Domicile of choice is the creation of the party. When a domicile of choice is acquired, the domicile of origin is in See also:

ABEYANCE (O. Fr. abeance, " gaping")

abeyance, but is not absolutely extinguished, or obliterated. When a domicile of choice is abandoned, the domicile of origin revives, a See also:

SPECIAL

special intention to revert to it not being necessary. A natural-born Englishman may domicile himself in See also:

Holland, but if he breaks up his See also:

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment there and quits Holland, declaring that he will never return, it is absurd to suppose that his Dutch domicile clings to him until he has set up his See also:

tabernacle elsewhere.': If to this we add that legitimate minors follow the changes of the father's domicile and a married woman follows the domicile of her See also:

HUSBAND

husband, also that compulsory detention will not create a domicile, the outlines of involuntary domicile will have been sufficiently sketched. For the establishment of a domicile of choice there must be both animus and f actum, intention and fact. The fact need not be more than arrival in the territory of the new domicile if there be the necessary intention, while any number of years' continuance there will not found a domicile if the necessary intention is absent. As the result of the most See also:

RECENT

recent English and Scottish cases it may be laid down that the necessary intention is incompatible with the contemplation by the person in question of any event on the occurence of which his See also:

RESIDENCE (Latin residere, to remain behind, to dwell, reside)

residence in the territory in question would cease, and that if he has not formed a fixed and settled purpose of settling in that territory, at least his conduct and declarations must See also:

lead to the belief that he would have declared such a purpose if the See also:

NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

necessity of making an See also:

election between that territory and his former one had arisen. The word territory, meaning a See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country having a certain legal See also:

SYSTEM

system, is used advisedly, for neither the intention nor the fact need refer to a locality. It is possible that a Scotsman or a foreigner may have clearly established a domicile of choice in England, although it may be impossible to say whether See also:

LONDON

London, See also:

BRIGHTON

Brighton or a house in the country is his true or See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal residence.

What is here laid down has been gradually attained. In the older English cases an intention to return to the former domicile was not excluded, if the event on which the return depended was highly uncertain and regarded by the person in question as remote. Afterwards a tendency towards the opposite extreme was manifested by requiring for a domicile of choice the intention to See also:

ASSOCIATE (Lat. associates, from ad, to, and sociare to join)

associate oneself with the ideas and habits of the new territory—Quatenus in illo exuere patriam, not in the political sense, which it was never attempted to connect with change of domicile, but in the social and legal sense. At See also:

PRESENT

present it is agreed that the only intention to be considered is that of residence, but that, if the intention to reside in the territory be proved to amount to what has been above stated, a domicile will be acquired from which the legal consequences will follow, even defeating intentions about them so clearly expressed as, for instance, by making a will which by reason of the change of domicile is invalid. The two most important cases are See also:

Douglas v. Douglas, 1871, L. R. 12 See also:

EQUITY (Lat. aequitas)

Equity 617, before See also:

VICE

Vice-See also:

CHANCELLOR (M. Eng. and Anglo-Fr. canceler, chanceler, Fr. chancelier, Lat. cancellarius)

chancellor Wickens, and Winans v, AU. Gen., 1904, See also:

APPEAL

Appeal Cases 287, before the House of Lords. When the circumstances of a person's life point to two territories as domiciles, the selection of the one which alone can fill that character often leads to appeals even up to the highest court. The residence of a man's wife and See also:

FAMILY

family as contrasted with his place of business, his exercise of political or municipal functions, and any conduct which tends to connect his See also:

CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO

children with a given country, as by their See also:

EDUCATION

education or the start given them in life, as well as other indications, are often cited as important; but none of them are in themselves decisive. The situation must be considered as a whole.

When the question is between the domicile of origin and an alleged one of choice, its See also:

SOLUTION (from Lat. solvere, to loosen, dissolve)

solution is rendered a little easier than it is when the question is between two alleged domiciles of choice, the See also:

BURDEN, or BURTHEN

burden of See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof lying on the party which contends that the domicile of origin has been abandoned. In the See also:

state of the law which has been described it will not be found surprising that an act of See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament, 24 & 25 Vict. C. 121, recites that by the operation of the law of domicile the expectation and belief of British subjects dying abroad with regard to the See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution of their property are often defeated, and enacts that when a See also:

convention to that effect has been made with any See also:

FOREIGN

foreign country, no British subject dying in such country shall be deemed to have acquired a domicile therein, unless he has been See also:

RESIDENT

resident in such country for one See also:

YEAR

year previous to death and has made a See also:

DECLARATION (from Lat. declarare, to make fully clear, clams)

declaration in See also:

writing of his intention to become domiciled; and that British subjects so dying without having so resided and made such declaration shall be deemed for all purposes of testate or intestate succession as to movables to retain the domicile they possessed at the See also:

time of going to reside in such foreign country. Similar exemptions are conferred on the subjects of the foreign state dying in Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain or See also:

Ireland. But the act does not apply to foreigners who have obtained letters of See also:

NATURALIZATION

naturalization in any See also:

PART

part of the British dominions. It has not been availed of, and is indeed an See also:

ANACHRONISM (from ava, back, and xpovor, time)

anachronism, ignoring as it does the fact that domicile has no longer a See also:

WORLD

world-wide importance, owing to the substitution for it of political nationality as a test of private law in so many important countries. The See also:

UNITED

United States of See also:

AMERICA

America is not one of those countries, but there the importance of domicile suffers from the See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of referring questions of capacity to the law of the place of contract instead of to any personal law. (JNo.

End of Article: DOMICILE (Lat. domicilium, from domus, home)

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