Interest Analysis and an Enhanced Degree of Specificity: The Wrongful Death Action

Authors

David E. Seidelson

Abstract

Interest analysis has come to be recognized as a phrase of legal art and an acceptable method of resolving choice-of-law problems. In a relatively short period of time, the method has been embraced by courts impressive both in number and in individual judicial prestige. The essence of interest analysis lies in the fashioning of an indicative law which will result in the resolution of a choice-of-law problem by the application of the dispositive law of that state having the greatest interest in the specific issue presented. It is the antithesis of that older methodology which resolved choice-of-law problems by the mechanical application of rigid indicative laws, dictated by the cause of action asserted. Thus, many courts which once resolved virtually all choice-of law problems in tort cases by the application of lex loci delicti, have now come to recognize the propriety of precisely formulating the issue presented, determining which states have legitimate interests in that issue, identifying each of those interests, deciding which state's interests are paramount, and applying the dispositive law of that state to resolve the specific issue presented.

First Page

525

Recommended Citation

David E. Seidelson, Interest Analysis and an Enhanced Degree of Specificity: The Wrongful Death Action, 10 Duq. L. Rev. 525 (1972).
Available at: https://dsc.duq.edu/dlr/vol10/iss4/2