 The law that is actually held to be applicable is known as “the proper law of the contract.”

In the South African system, the rule is that the proper or governing law of the contract depends in the first instance on the express or implied intention of the parties.If the parties have expressly agreed (usually by means of a “choice-of-law” clause) that the law of a particular country shall govern their contract, their choice normally prevails.Where there is no such express agreement, circumstances may nevertheless be present from which a tacit choice of law may be inferred (for example, where the contract deals with concepts peculiar to a particular system), but such cases are in the nature of things relatively rare.