Governing Law Provisions

A "choice of law" or "governing law" provision in a contract allows the parties to agree that a particular state's laws will be used to interpret the agreement, even if they live in (or the agreement is signed in) a different state.

Governing Jurisdiction means the jurisdiction whose law governs the internal affairs of an entity.

A "Governing Law" clause is a clause used in legal agreements where you can declare which rules and laws will govern the agreement if legal issues arise. A "Governing Law" clause will be found consistently in contracts and legal agreements between companies and their users.

The Common Law. The majority of contracts (i.e. employment agreements, leases, general business agreements) are controlled by the state's common law -- a tradition-based but constantly evolving set of laws that is mostly judge-made, from court decisions over the years. The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).

Contracts are usually governed and enforced by the laws in the state where the agreement was made. Depending upon the subject matter of the agreement (i.e. sale of goods, property lease), a contract may be governed by one of two types of state law: The Common Law.

Out-of-State Employers Beware: New California Law Prohibits Non-California Choice of Law and Venue Clauses in Employment Contracts.

This determination is often referred to as choice of law. Typically, if the contract does not address choice of law, the court will use the law of the state in which the transaction was consummated or where a substantial portion of the subject matter of the agreement shall occur.