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Second Generation Of Law And Economics Of Conflict Of Laws: Baxter's Comparative Impairment And Beyond, Erin O'Hara O'Connor, William H. Allen

Scholarly Publications

In his 1963 article in the Stanford Law Review, “Choice of Law and the Federal System,” Professor William F. Baxter criticized the choice-of-law approach of the First Restatement of the Conflict of Laws. According to the Restatement, courts should apply the law of the state where the last act or event deemed necessary to create a cause of action occurred. In contrast, Baxter advocated a comparative-impairment approach, whereby judges were obligated to apply the law of the state whose public policy would suffer the greatest impairment if its law was not applied. The authors contend that although Baxter’s approach caries …