The above quotation from Batiffol appears in the part of his book where the xenophobic approach to the legal position of a foreigner in ancient Greece is debated. Although centuries have passed since those times, that attitude is still deeply ingrained in human nature. The field of law had not escaped it either. In spite of the fact that no judge would be willing to admit it, it still influences many of them, at least unconsciously, albeit that they are honest, decent and learned persons. Only those of them who have been for a considerable time immersed in problems of the application of foreign law have been able, to a greater or lesser degree, to eliminate it. In this short essay I shall discuss briefly, without in any way attempting to be exhaustive, some of the aspects of the problem. The idea is simply to draw attention to an issue which is usually avoided in legal writing.