Under the governmental interest analysis for torts, which jurisdiction's law governs a conduct-regulating tort?

• A. The law of the place where the tort occurred.
• B. The defendant's domicile law only.
• C. The plaintiff's domicile law only.
• D. Federal law governs all conduct-regulating torts.

Answer: (A)

In government interest analysis, courts look at which state's policies are most served by applying a particular law. When a tort is conduct-regulating, the goal is to curb and standardize the defendant’s behavior. The state whose policies are most relevant to regulating that conduct is the state where the conduct actually occurred—the place where the wrong took place. Applying that state’s law best furthers its interest in setting and enforcing standards to prevent the harmful conduct, and it keeps the regulation tied to the act itself rather than to someone’s domicile.

So, for a conduct-regulating tort, the law of the place where the tort occurred governs. The other options—using the defendant’s domicile, the plaintiff’s domicile, or federal law for all conduct-regulating torts—do not align with the regulation-focused rationale of governmental interest analysis.