How does renvoi affect a court’s decision to apply foreign law?

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Conflict of laws Headquarters of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg.

In the context of conflict of laws, renvoi (French for "send back") is a principle that arises when a forum court’s choice-of-law rule refers to a foreign legal system. The core issue is whether that reference includes the foreign system's own conflict-of-laws rules.1

Renvoi affects a court's decision in two primary ways:

Remission: If the foreign law’s conflict rules refer back to the law of the forum, the court must decide whether to accept that reference and apply its own domestic law.1
Transmission: If the foreign law’s conflict rules refer to the law of a third country, the court must determine whether to follow that reference.1

Whether a court applies renvoi depends on the specific legal system. While many systems accept the principle, others—notably most American courts—do not. Furthermore, even systems that traditionally utilize renvoi may exclude it in specific areas, such as the current approach in EU conflicts law regarding tort and contract cases.1