ABSTRACT
There can be no doubt that the forum controls the cases that come before it and the forum must have power to reject suits, both domestic and foreign, which offend against some fundamental principle of its operation. The general principle was clearly expressed by Lord Parker in Dynamit Actien Gesellschaft v Rio Tinto Zinc,1 where the learned judge stated:
This conventional exposition of the attitude to be adopted to foreign law has found favour in other jurisdictions, as Cardozo J observed in Louks v Standard Oil Company of New York:3
There is some authority for the view that, in England, there are three forms of legislation that will not be enforced by English courts:4
(a) revenue laws; (b) penal laws; and (c) other public laws.
