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Concept
Habitual residence
Summary
In conflict of laws, habitual residence is the standard used to determine the law which should be applied to determine a given legal dispute or entitlement. It can be contrasted with the law on domicile, traditionally used in common law jurisdictions to do the same thing.
Habitual residence is less demanding than domicile and the focus is more on past experience rather than future intention. There is normally only one habitual residence where the individual usually resides and routinely returns to after visiting other places. It is the geographical place considered "home" for a reasonably significant period of time.
In conflict of laws there are three personal connecting factors that help courts determine which law should apply to a particular dispute or issue. These are nationality, domicile, and habitual residence. Habitual residence is the newest concept of the three and is becoming a more commonly used factor than domicile in many common law jurisdictions and within statutes and international conventions.
There is no internationally agreed upon definition of habitual residence. Even within specific jurisdictions, many courts have yet to fully define the term. Numerous domestic statutes and conventions that use habitual residence, such as the Hague Conference on Private International Law, also do not define the term. This may be to avoid “the rigidity associated with the alternative concepts of domicile and nationality”. The lack of definition means that habitual residence is generally left to judicial interpretation by the courts in whichever jurisdiction uses it as a connecting factor.
Although there is no definition, habitual residence can generally be considered something less than domicile but something more than simple residence: a midpoint between the two. Previous definitions suggested that habitual residence required someone to be physically present in a place for a certain period of time to be considered habitual resident in that place.
Official source
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