Doctrine of Domicile as a Personal Connecting Factor in Conflict of Laws in Tanzania: An Examination of Abdalla Hamid Mohamed v. Jasnena Zaludova [1982] TZHC 14

Abstract

In Tanzania, and all over the world, including Tanzania Zanzibar, courts of laws have considered domicile as an important connecting factor in the determination of various disputes brought before the court of laws in cases relating to conflict of laws, especially on issues relating to jurisdiction of the courts and capacity to marry in various marital disputes. In a most cases, the courts attempt to investigate how far and the extent to which domicile may be considered as the connecting factor in settling issues of validity of marriages or determination of divorce cases between disputants. Legal speaking, when a person files a lawsuit in a court of law relating to a conflict of laws, one of the interesting questions the court would wish to test is how the matter in question is connected or linked with the domicile of the disputant. It is on this basis that this research article discusses domicile as a personal connecting factor in conflict of laws disputes in Tanzania, with special attention to the above-stated case law, as decided by the Zanzibar courts. The decision by the Zanzibar courts, as discussed in this article, has laid a basic foundation on the domicile as the connecting factor in conflict of laws.  The article further examines the extent to which domicile was considered as connecting factor by the Zanzibar courts in determining above selected case law in conflict of laws.