Facts: A tort claim was brought in the UK concerning employment injury in Nigeria (locus deliciti). The employment contract, governed by Dutch law, had an exclusion clause (valid under Dutch law but not under Nigerian law) in respect of the employer’s liability in the event of a work injury suffered by an employee in the course of employment.
Issue: How did this contract clause affect the tort claim?
Held (English Court of Appeal): The exclusion clause prevented the employee from bringing an action in tort in England against the employer. The law of the contract overrides the lex loci delicti if the parties have contracted to exclude liability, and the exclusion is valid under the law of the contract. In this case, the Court did not consider whether the exclusion clause in the employment contract was valid under the lex loci delicti (Nigerian law).