Also known as: local laws · municipal law
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A body of substantive legal rules and standards that a particular jurisdiction applies to resolve controversies before its courts. This body excludes the jurisdiction's choice-of-law rules and focuses on the internal principles governing the rights and duties of the parties with respect to the issue presented.
Lola Langley remained in possession of the leased warehouse after her lease with Legacy Motors expired. Legacy Motors initiated a judicial proceeding seeking recovery of the premises. The court applied the controlling local law to determine whether Legacy Motors could obtain possession through the available statutory remedies.
State officials in State A received a federal directive requiring them to perform background checks on prospective handgun purchasers using state personnel and resources. The officials declined to comply. A court held that the federal government could not command state officers to administer the federal program under the applicable local law framework.
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Lars Lindstrom and Lucia Lopez disputed ownership interests in a parcel of land located in State B after a multistate transaction. The court identified the state with the most significant relationship to the land and the parties. It then applied that state's local law to resolve the ownership question.
Lena Lawson transferred a security interest in equipment situated in State C. The parties had formed their expectations in State D, which shared identical local rules on redemption rights with State C. The court aggregated the contacts and applied the shared local law to protect the justified expectations of the parties.
Luis Lopez challenged the capacity of a transferor in a land conveyance executed in State E. The forum court applied its own local law to procedural questions such as joinder but referred the capacity issue to the local law of the state selected under the applicable choice principles.
Latoya Lane litigated the validity of a deed conveying land situated in State F. The court sitting in State G applied the local law of State F to the substantive property issues. It did so to reach the same result that a court of State F would have reached on the actual facts presented.
Local law consists of the substantive rules a jurisdiction applies to the merits of a controversy. It excludes the jurisdiction's choice-of-law rules. When a court selects the local law of another state, it applies only those substantive standards and does not incorporate the selected state's renvoi or choice principles.
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A landlord or incoming tenant may pursue judicial remedies available under the controlling local law to recover possession from a tenant holding over after lease termination. The availability of those remedies depends on the statutes of the jurisdiction unless the statutes themselves provide otherwise.
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The federal government may not issue directives that require states or their political subdivisions to address particular problems or command state officers to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program. Such commands violate the Tenth Amendment under the anti-commandeering principle.
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When contacts involving a thing and the parties are located in two or more states that maintain identical local law rules on the issue, the case is treated for choice-of-law purposes as if the contacts were grouped in a single state.
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…and the impossibility of discovering a satisfactory line of demarcation between the province of general law and that of local law developed a new well of uncertainties.[^maj-8] On the other hand, the mischievous results of the doctrine had become apparent. Diversity of citizenship jurisdiction was conferred in order…