Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Applicable law definition

What does Applicable law mean? Applicable law describes the body of law that actually governs a dispute, transaction or issue in practice—either because the parties have made a valid governing law (choice‑of‑law) clause, or, absent such a clause, because conflict‑of‑laws rules select it. The term is descriptive rather than a defined statutory label and is used across contracts, tort/delict, property and regulatory compliance. In England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, if no valid choice is made, the applicable law of contractual obligations is identified under Rome I as retained EU law; for non‑contractual obligations, Rome II as retained EU law applies. In...

UK Rome II Article 4 for England and Wales: General Rule, Habitual Residence Exception and Escape Clause - Financial Loss, Multi-state Harm and Damages Assessment

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Practice notes

Practice Note

This Practice Note assists with identifying the applicable law in the courts of England and Wales for events causing damage that occurred on or after 1 January 2021, and is intended for matters arising in respect of such incidents. Please note that, where a conflict of laws arises between different jurisdictions within the UK, or between the UK and Gibraltar, Assimilated Rome II (UK Rome II) is used if the harmful event took place on or after 11 January 2009. For events falling outside these periods, the UK courts will apply an alternative applicable law regime, determined by the date when the event happened. For an overview of the various regimes and how they relate to one another, see Practice Note: Applicable law regimes.

This Practice Note reviews the provisions of UK Rome II, Regulation (EC) 864/2007 concerning the law governing non‑contractual obligations, Rome II, as relevant to this Note. It addresses the general rule in Article 4(1) of UK Rome II, Regulation (EC) 864/2007, and then explains how that default position can be displaced. It also covers the habitual residence exception and the ‘escape clause’. For guidance on other aspects of the regulation, see Practice Notes:

UK Rome II—application...

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Angharad Parry , KC

Twenty Essex

Angharad Parry specialises in advisory and advocacy work in a wide range of commercial disputes with a special focus on private international law issues/conflict of laws, sale of goods and commodities, energy and natural resources, off-shore, projects and heavy industry, carriage of goods, shipping and public international law work (particularly involving contracts between states and private entities). In addition to court work, she has extensive experience in arbitration, particularly before the ICC and LCIA. Angharad has also been involved in court proceedings, ancillary to arbitration, with a recent appearance before the Court of Appeal in the seminal case of Integral Petroleum Ltd v Melars Group Ltd (2016) EWCA Civ 108. She has also been involved in numerous proceedings with multi-jurisdictional elements.Angharad is recommended by The Legal 500 (2012 and 2013) as a "Leading Junior" in the field of Commercial...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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