Extraterritorial Operation of Foreign Legal Rules and its Restriction in Private International Law

The paper is devoted to the issue of extraterritorial operation and application of foreign law in private international law, as well as to limitations and restrictions regarding such operation and application. The author deals with the question of the legal nature of, firstly, operation of law and, secondly, foreign law, and describes both the history and the contemporary status of the extraterritoriality phenomenon. The latter is illustrated by the choice of law approaches such as unilateralism and multilateralism. After examining different forms of extraterritoriality de lege lata, the author arrives at the conclusion that extraterritorial operation of foreign law could either be direct, whereas the foreign law regards itself as having extraterritorial effect, or indirect, when such operation is based on choice of law provisions of another legal system.