Comparative Impairment and Better Law: Grand Illusions in the Conflict of Laws

The Article examines the comparative-impairment theory adopted by the California Supreme Court in Bernhard v. Harrah's Club. Comparative-impairment, the author argues, is so imprecise and manipulable as to be largely indistinguishable from a search for "better law." Furthermore, the doctrine of comparative-impairment raises the serious jurisprudential and philosophical questions associated with natural law.