DOMICILE (Lat. domfcllinin, from domes, house). The legal residence of a person. Though used in common speech as synonymous with or 'place of abode,' in the strict legal Sellse vile' denotes the place which the law will hold to he a man's residence: and this may or may not coincide with the place where he in fact usu ally or habitually resides. It is a doctrine of modern la NV that every person shall have a defi nite loeation in sonic jurisdiction, to which his legal rights and obligations may be referred, and by which his legal status, public and 'Private, is determined. The name and the notion of domi elle, as well as the necessity for it. are com paratively recent. and arise from the modern conception of law as being of territorial rather than of personal obligation. Formerly the im portant question was that of nationality, it being conceived that every 'person was entitled to be judged and to have his rights and obliga tions determined by the law of his national al legiance, rather than by that of his actual domi cile. But the complete triumph of the principle that the authority of a State extends to every one within its lwrder,. irrespective I if his na tionality or ell and that it is in the main confined I 41 these limits, has given a new impor tame to the rille,tien of II MI t% As the private and local law by which a per son is governed, as well os his statns, now depends almost entirely en his domicile. the question of what facts of residence and intention shall determine the domicile has heen exten discussed by the courts and law. writers.
The importance of the subject in international law has called (to- its especial consideration by the authorities in that field of jurisprudence.
Vattcl defines domicile as habitation fixed in any place with an intention of ohcays staying there. This definition is UMW as too limited by most authorities on international law, certainly by the best writers on the subject in the United States. It is held that in a newly settled country like the United Stales, absolute permanence of residence is rare, and it is suffi cient to constitute a domicile that the habitation lie fixed without any present intention of remov ing therefrom. Justice Story says: "Two things must concur to constitute a domicile—first. a residence, and, sceond, the intention of making it the home of the party:" to which Dr. \Voldsey adds: "And when once a domicile is acquired it is not shaken off by occasional absences for the sake of business or pleasure, or even by visits to a former domicile or to one's native country." It follows that the same person may lie a citizen of one country, possess a domicile in another (for the questions of thunicile and citizenship arc quite distinct), and temporarily reside in still a third. Another American authority, Wharton, distinguishes three kinds of domicile: domicile by birth, by choice, and by operation of the law: and this classification is now generally accepted. The first is determined by the place of nativity, the second is acquired by a man's own volition, and an illustration of the third is the domicile of a wife., being that of her husband acquired by her at the time of marriage. A child. of course. has the domicile of his parents, and is eonsidered in eapable of changing his domicile of his own ac cord; but he follows any change in the domicile of the parents. When the father of a family dies,
the amnicile of his children and Widow continues to be that of his last residence until a new one is acquired in any of the ways already indicated. The question as to what amounts to a sufficient intention of permanent residence to cause an im mediate change of domicile is one cif no little difficulty, which must be determined by the spe cial facts of each ease.
in its relation to private rights and obligations the rule may be laid down in a general Way that the law of the place of domicile governs in con tracts relating to personal property and in the matter of wills and bankruptcy; while. on the contrary. in matters relating to real estate the law or the place of its situation (ler rei shins) prevails. In England it was formerly held that it was necessary to the validity of a will that it should be executed according to the law of the testator's dondeile, no matter where the will was drawn; but statutes now provide that the will is valid if executed in accordance with the law of the country where it. was maple. even though it do not conform to the law of the place of per manent and revognized domicile. Similar pro visions exist in lutist or all of the States in this country. See CON l'1.1tr tw The question of domicile is often of importance in determining properly rights in time of war. Thus it is held that the property of an alien domiciled inn country with which his own na tion is at war is subject to seizure as that of mu 11111•11 enemy. Under a strict construction of the Nan mon law. also. an alien ea pinpd ( regard less of the existenee of war or peace) hold land, either by pureltase or inheritance; hut in many of the American States this rule has been directly abolished by statute as opposed to the natural policy of this country, and in others it has become obsolete by general consent. (see. ALIEN.) Under the Roman or civil law it was considered that a man might legally hold two domiciles, as when lie resided part of the year in one place and part in another, or when he main tained two businesses in separate places: but, as has been explained above, the modern law of Eu rope and 1merica has no room for this concep tion. In matters of taxation and in the appliea lion of the poor laws the term domicile is often used• sometimes loosely, and its definition is often of importance in deciding such matters: the courts will often in treating such questions give the word the more restricted meaning that is attached to the words dwelling-place. home and residence. It has been held by several American courts that the domicile of a sailor is the place where he voluntarily spends most of his time when on shore. See ALLEGIANCE; CITIZEN; Sun JECT.
The authorities are numerous. The most im portant are Dicey, The Lame of Domicile (London, 1879): Dicey, Conflict of La:vs (London. 1896) ; Round, English Law of Domicile (London. 1861) ; Westlake, Private International Law (3d ed., London, 18911; Moore. Digest of the Interna tional Law of the United States (Washington, 1903) Stocquart, Studies in I'riratc Interna tional Lam (Brussels, 1900).