DOMICILE
domicile (dom-<<schwa>>-sIl), n.1. The place at which a person has been physically present
and that the person regards as home; a person’s true, fixed, principal, and permanent home, to
which that person intends to return and remain even though currently residing elsewhere. • A
person has a settled connection with his or her domicile for legal purposes, either because that
place is home or because the law has so designated that place. — Also termed permanent abode.
[Cases: Domicile 1. C.J.S. Domicile §§ 2–3, 5, 11.]
“By domicile we mean home, the permanent home; and if you do not understand your
permanent home, I am afraid that no illustration drawn from foreign writers or foreign languages
will very much help you to it.” Whicker v. Hume [1858] 7 H.L.C. 124, 160(per Lord Cranworth).
“It is difficult to give a definition of domicil that will cover at once domicil by operation of
law and domicil by choice. The idea of domicil certainly includes the idea of place and the idea of
settled connection with the place. Domicil of choice is so closely connected with the idea of home
that it seems desirable to include that idea in any definition, and yet the idea is not applicable to
many kinds of domicil by operation of law. It has therefore seemed best to state this element in the
alternative. If a home is in the place, that is sufficient. If there is no home, or if the party is not sui
juris, then the place is assigned by law without his will.” 1 Joseph H. Beale, A Treatise on the
Conflict of Laws § 9.1, at 89–90 (1935).
“A person’s domicile is the place with which that person is most closely associated — his or
her ‘home’ with all the connotations of that word. A person can be domiciled in a nation, a state of
the United States, a city, or a house within a city. He or she can have a domicile within a broader
geographical designation without having a domicile in a narrower geographical designation. For
example, a person may be domiciled in a state without being domiciled within any particular city
within the state. For interstate choice-of-law purposes, it is the state in which a person is domiciled
that is significant.” Russell J. Weintraub, Commentary on the Conflict of Laws § 2.2, at 14 (4th ed.
2001).
2. The residence of a person or corporation for legal purposes. — Also termed (in sense 2)
legal residence; domicile by operation of law. Cf. RESIDENCE; PLACE OF BUSINESS. — Also
spelled (in BrE) domicil.“Tax statutes frequently speak in terms of residence, intending it to be the
equivalent of domicile. For example, the New York estate tax speaks in terms of residence and
non-residence. Similarly …, the United States imposes an estate tax on any resident or citizen of
the U.S. Although both statutes use the term ‘residence,’ its usage has been construed to mean
‘domicile.’ ” Robert C. Lawrence III, International Tax and Estate Planning § 1.03(a)(4), at 8–9
(1989).
after-acquired domicile.A domicile established after the facts relevant to an issue arose. • An
after-acquired domicile cannot be used to establish jurisdiction or choice of law.
commercial domicile. 1. A domicile acquired by a nonresident corporation conducting
enough activities to permit taxation of the corporation’s property or activities located outside the
bounds of the taxing state. 2. A domicile acquired by a person or company freely residing or
carrying on business in enemy territory or enemy-occupied territory. — Also termed
quasi-domicile.
corporate domicile.The place considered by law as the center of corporate affairs, where the
corporation’s functions are discharged; the legal home of a corporation, usu. its state of
incorporation or the state in which it maintains its principal place of business. • For purposes of
determining whether diversity jurisdiction exists in federal court, a corporation is considered a
citizen of both its state of incorporation and the state of its principal place of business. See
DIVERSITY OF CITIZENSHIP. [Cases: Corporations 52, 503(1); Taxation 397, 1016. C.J.S.
Corporations §§ 107–109, 717, 886; Taxation §§ 577–579, 1708.]
domicile of birth.See domicile of origin.
domicile of choice. 1. A domicile established by physical presence within a state or territory,
coupled with the intention to make it home. [Cases: Domicile 4. C.J.S. Domicile § 8.] 2. The
domicile that a person chooses after reaching majority or being emancipated.
domicile of origin.The domicile of a person at birth, derived from the custodial parent or
imposed by law. — Also termed natural domicile; domicile of birth; original domicile. See
necessary domicile. [Cases: Domicile 3. C.J.S. Domicile §§ 6–7.]
“Domicil is sometimes divided into domicil of birth, that by operation of law, and that of
choice. Domicil of origin in modern times is domicil in the place where his parents at his birth
were domiciled.” Theodore D. Woolsey, Introduction to the Study of International Law § 71, at
105 n.2 (5th ed. 1878).
“Domicile of origin is the domicile the law assigns to each person at birth, usually the
domicile of the father in the case of a legitimate child and of the mother in the case of an
illegitimate child. Domicile of origin has particular significance in English law. If one abandons
one’s domicile of choice without attaining a new one, the domicile of origin ‘revives’ until a new
domicile of choice is attained. In contrast, U.S. jurisdictions generally will not find a domicile
abandoned until a new one has been adopted.” Robert C. Lawrence III, International Tax and
Estate Planning § 1.03(a)(1), at 4 (1989).
domicile of succession.The domicile that determines the succession of a person’s estate.
domicile of trustee.The domicile where a trustee is appointed. [Cases: Trusts 113. C.J.S.
Trover and Conversion §§ 220–223.]
elected domicile.A contractually agreed domicile between parties for purposes of the
foreign domicile.A domicile established by a citizen or subject of one sovereignty within the
territory of another.
matrimonial domicile.A domicile that a husband and wife, as a married couple, have
established as their home. — Also termed marital domicile; matrimonial home. [Cases: Divorce
62. C.J.S. Divorce § 99.]
municipal domicile.A person’s residence in a county or municipality, as distinguished from
the person’s state or national domicile.
national domicile.A domicile considered in terms of a particular nation rather than a locality
or subdivision of a nation.
natural domicile.See domicile of origin.
necessary domicile.A domicile legally fixed and independent of choice, as in the domicile of
origin. See domicile of origin.
original domicile.See domicile of origin.
quasi-domicile. See commercial domicile.
quasi-national domicile.A person’s state of residence, as distinguished from the person’s
national or local domicile. [Blacks Law 8th]