The Law Applicable to Immovables

There is perhaps no rule better settled in private international law than that the laws of the place where immovable property is situated “exclusively govern in respect of the rights of the parties,the mode of transfer,and the solemnities which would accompany them.The title,therefore,to immovable property,can be acquired,passed and lost only according to the lex situs.”2

As a matter of fact,this principle developed in the Italian Doctrine of the Middle Ages,and has been universally accepted since the 19th century.The very nature of immovables—their immobility—provides the major reason for the application of the lex situs.Immovables are part of the country and so eternally and closely connected with it that all rights over them have their natural center of gravity.It naturally follows that every question affecting title to immovables must be governed by the law of the place where the immovables are situated.As a scholar puts it,“[A] sovereign cannot safely permit the title to its land to be determined by a foreign power.”3(https://www.daowen.com)

In addition to the protection of state interests,the principle of the lex situs is universally accepted because great confusion would have arisen if immovables are subject to other laws.As we know,ownership of an immovable and other rights in immovables are rights valid against everybody and to be respected by everybody.If ownership of immovables were determined by the personal law of the actual owner,the law governing rights over a piece of land would change with any change of ownership; the incidents of ownership,e.g.,in the relationship between neighbors,would be altered by any alienation of the immovable to a foreigner or by a change of domicile on part of the owner.Needless to say,this would result in confusion.