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| ===Particular Matters Affecting Remedy=== | | ===Particular Matters Affecting Remedy=== |
| ====Statutes of Limitations==== | | ====Statutes of Limitations==== |
| Statutes of limitations, unless they discharge the debt, go merely to the remedy, and questions arising under them are to be determined by the law of the forum. And this rule applies to actions on foreign judgments or to those of courts of record of sister states as well as to actions on conventional contracts. But if the statute has run its course in the jurisdiction where the contract was made, and its effect there is to extinguish the obligation, this goes to the right and not merely to the remedy; and no action can thereafter be maintained on the contract in another jurisdiction. The validity of a contract limiting the time for bringing action is governed by the law of the forum.<ref>Missouri, etc., R. Co. v. Godair Commn. Co., 3 & Tex. Clv. A. 298, 87 S W 871.</ref> In some states, by express statutory provision, foreign statutes of limitation may be pleaded.
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| ====Exemption Laws==== | | ====Exemption Laws==== |
| Exemption laws are considered as statutes affecting the remedy only, and have no extraterritorial force. Questions of exemption, therefore, are to be determined solely by the laws of the forum.
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| ====Discharge in Bankruptcy or Insolvency==== | | ====Discharge in Bankruptcy or Insolvency==== |
| In an action on a contract defendant cannot set up as a defense a discharge under the bankruptcy or iosolvency laws of another state or country, unless the debt was created within the jurisdiction of the court granting the discharge, or unless the creditor voluntarily submitted himself to the jurisdiction of such court. A discharge under the Federal Bankruptcy Law, however, is available in any state.
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| ====Protection from Civil Arrest==== | | ====Protection from Civil Arrest==== |
| The lex fori, and not the lex loci contractus, applies in regard to defendant's protection from arrest on civil process, inasmuch as such arrest is of the remedy and not of the right.
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| ====Whether Instrument Is a Specialty==== | | ====Whether Instrument Is a Specialty==== |
| The remedy on a contract under seal, and the question whether a contract is under seal, are determined by the lex fori. If an instrument has a scrawl instead of a seal, it must be treated as a simple contract and sued on as such in a jurisdiction where a scrawl is not regarded as sufficient to create a specialty, whatever may be the lex loci contractus.<ref>Douglas v. Oldham, 6 N.H. 150; Andrews v. Herriot, 4 Cow. (N.Y.) 608.</ref>
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| ====Whether Remedy Is at Law or in Equity==== | | ====Whether Remedy Is at Law or in Equity==== |
| If, where a contract is sought to be enforced, the remedy is in equity, a suit in equity must be brought, although the remedy may be at law in the jurisdiction where tlte contract was made.<ref>Burchard v. Dunbar, 82 Ill. 460, 25 AmR 334; Halley v. Ball, 66 Ill. 250.</ref>
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| =====Parties===== | | =====Parties===== |
| So also the question as to who are the proper parties to the action is to be determined by the lex fori. And that law determines whether a suit is to be brought in the name of the assignor of the contract to the use of the assignee, or whether it shall be brought in the name of the assignee.
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| ==Conflict of Laws as to Time== | | ==Conflict of Laws as to Time== |
| ===In General=== | | ===In General=== |
| The validity of an agreement depends on the state of the law at the time it was entered into. A contract will be construed according to the law of the state, as interpreted by its courts, at the time the contract was made, and not in accordance with subsequent contrary decisions. The organization of a territory as a state will not affect rights under the existing contracts which are expressly saved.
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| ===Agreement Illegal When Made but Afterward Legalized=== | | ===Agreement Illegal When Made but Afterward Legalized=== |
| If an agreement was illegal by statute, or on grounds of public policy, when made, it is not, according to the great weight of authority, rendered legal by repeal of the statute or by a subsequent change in public or legislative poliey, although a contract which provides for something known to the parties to be illegal at the time being done in the event and only in the event of ita becoming lawful is good, unless the thing is
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| of snch a character that its becoming lawful cannot be seriously contemplated. And where a person has received a benefit under an illegal contract, a promise by him to pay therefor, although made after the repeal of the statute which rendered the contract illegal, is not supported by a sufficient consideration.<ref>Ludlow v. Hardy, 38 Mich. 690; Puckett v. Alexander, 102 N.C. 95, 8 SE 767, 3 LRA 43; Dever v. Corcoran, 8 N.B. 338.</ref>
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| ===Agreement Legal When Made but Afterward Prohibited=== | | ===Agreement Legal When Made but Afterward Prohibited=== |
| So a change in the law oannot make an agreement illegal which was legal when it was made, although it may be rendered unenforceable. Therefore, where an agreement is legal when entered into, and is afterward made illegal by statute, acts done under it while it remained legal are legal; and a contract that is valid when made is not affected by a change in the public policy of the state.<ref>Stephens v. Southern Pac. R. Co., 109 Cal. 86, 41 P 783, 50 AmSR 17, 29 LRA 751.</ref> An agreement made after the passage of a prohibiting statute, but before the act went into effect, is not affected by it.<ref>Armstrong v. Bufford, 51 Ala 410.</ref> But a contract is discharged by illegality supervening subsequently to the time of contracting, which may occur by a new statute or other act of public authority rendering the performance legally impossible,<ref>See [[Contracts/Illegality|Illegality]]</ref> unless the discharge is prevented by the constitutional prohibition of laws impairing the obligation of contracts.
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| ==References== | | ==References== |
| {{reflist}} | | {{reflist}} |
