CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

DALIBOR JÍLEK – JANA MICHALIČKOVÁ CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ piece of legislation, Soviet law, the content of which was based on antagonist class interests, applied to the family matters of Russian refugees. Legal standing was incompatible with the Arrangement, which allowed the state to apply either domicile or habitual residence, or residence at the latest. The connecting factor of nationality was not foreseen. Germany did not act in accordance with lex posterior in relation to incompatible treaty obligations. A similar legal argument based on lex specialis would also lead to the precedence and strict application of a treaty provision on refugees. The Arrangement led the couple of connecting factors of domicile and habitual residence into an identical but determining position. However, domicile was a legal concept depending exclusively on national law, where it was settled. That time, as found, more than fifty legal definitions of domicile were used. Those definitions were either reflections of usage of this concept or prescriptions of the required usage. These were the reasons for the doctrinal endeavour for uniform interpretation of that concept. 50 The traditional Roman law used either the legal concept or the descriptive, factual concept of domicile. Nevertheless, national law gradually converted the concept of domicile into a legal framework and legal definition. The factual concept of domicile faded away. Contrarily, the concept of habitual residence still was and remained in immediate contact with reality. The concept of habitual residence was incorporated into German law on social support for housing (Gesetz über den Unterstützungswohnsitz) of 1870. 51 The concept mentioned belonged to homeland law (Heimatrecht) . The claim of a community habitant to poverty support stemmed from this branch of law. In a broader sense, the concept of habitual residence (gewöhnliche Aufenthalt) was an integral part of public law. 52 This concept played a unique role in such a legal context. Awarding of the social claim was entirely dependent on this concept. Habitual residence as a fact was a substantive condition for poverty support. The provision of § 10 of the mentioned Act provided: Wer innerhalb eines Ortsarmenverbandes nach zurückgelegtem vier und zwanzigsten Lebensjahre zwei Jahre lang ununterbrochen seinen gewöhnlichen Aufenthalt gehabt hat, erwirbt dadurch in demselben den Unterstützungswohnsitz. Everyone having his habitual residence continually for two years after the twenty- fourth year of his age within a local poor community is entitled to obtain housing support there. 50 DE MAGALHAES, José Maria Barbosa. La doctrine du domicile en droit international privé. Recueil des cours . Collected Courses of The Hague Academy of International Law. Leyden: Brill, 1928, Vol. 23, III, Copyright Year: 1981, p. 138. 51 Reichsgesetzblatt (RGBl.),1870, p. 360. 52 See BAETGE Dietmar. Der Gewöhnliche Aufenthalt im Internationalen Privatrecht. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1994, pp. 62-63.

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