293 A U.S. court must recognize as valid a foreign act to which the doctrine applies, [h]owever offensive to the public policy of this country and its constituent States [the act] may be. 1981))); Quaak v. Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler Bedrijfsrevisoren, 361 F.3d 11, 17 (1st Cir. See W.S. 61 ), Judgment, 2002 I.C.J. at 2888. 386 20 But customary international law requires the exhaustion of local remedies in domestic courts only before a claim is brought in an international tribunal. Close 307 Close Close, Marshalls treatment of foreign sovereign immunity bears a striking resemblance to Huber and Storys descriptions of comity. After paraphrasing and defending Huber, Story endorsed comity as the basis for enforcing foreign law. 99 to extend comity, or is it simply a question of convenience? 25 30, at 36. 88 WebNew York City Salary Range: Low: $150700 - High: $313000. Thus, any immunity of a foreign sovereign in the courts of the United States must be traced up to the consent of the nation itself. International taxation is the study or determination of tax on a person or business subject to the tax laws of different countries or the international aspects of an Taxation could be described as a power as a process or as a means. 40 18, 1961, 23 U.S.T. was indispensable in a union of states, for if states refused to recognize and enforce each others laws, interstate relations would collapse and the Union would founder.). Id. This not only led American courts to use comity in new ways but also shifted the dominant rationale for comity from private interests in convenience to public interests in sovereignty and fostering friendly relations. See Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., 542 U.S. 241, 261 (2004) ([C]omity and parity concerns may be important as touchstones for a district courts exercise of discretion in particular cases. The act of state doctrine operates as a rule rather than a standard, (1939, c. 158, s. Intl L.J. Close, Finally, even when American courts have personal jurisdiction and decide to exercise it, they sometimes employ adjudicative comity as a principle of restraint to moderate that exercise. 286 102 Co. of Can. This aspect of the doctrine has perhaps obscured its foundation in comity. Parkcentrals holding may be limited to cases in which the defendants were not parties to the U.S. transactions. 154 See Matar v. Dichter, 563 F.3d 9, 15 (2d Cir. The desirability of executive discretion over questions of international comity is not just a myth, it is a dangerous myth. . Close, Storys 1834 treatise Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws cemented comity into the foundations of American conflicts law. 49 168 Close Close Co. of N.Y. v. United States, 304 U.S. 126 (1938). Close 279 112 Huber, supra note 74, at 164; see also Story, supra note 54, 25, at 31 (No nation can. . Close 261 287 Jurisdiction to prescribe is also distinct from jurisdiction to enforce. 345 Law Inst. The President has unreviewable authority to recognize foreign governments, and recognition in turn entitles foreign governments to bring suit in U.S. courts. Close Posner and Sunstein favor such deference, while this Article argues that it not only compromises judicial independence but also harms U.S. foreign relations by putting the Executive in the uncomfortable position of having to make decisions that may displease foreign governments. 128 Lower courts have tended to cabin this suggestion within the existing framework of the political question doctrine. This is one of the international comity myths that Part IV will challenge. As a principle of recognition, adjudicative comity operates in American law through the rules for recognizing foreign judgments and through judicial assistance to foreign courts with the discovery of evidence under 28 U.S.C. C 06-80038 JF (PVT), 2006 WL 825250, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Posner and Sunstein do not discuss any of these examples in detail, See Sabbatino, 376 U.S. at 423 ([The act of state doctrine] expresses the strong sense of the Judicial Branch that. 1987) ([T]here are no agreed principles governing recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, except that no state recognizes or enforces the judgment of another state rendered without jurisdiction over the judgment debtor.). Bank of Nigeria, 461 U.S. 480, 486 (1983); see also infra note 275 (collecting cases treating sovereign immunity as comity).

Sovereign party comity operates as a principle of restraint in American law through the doctrines of foreign state immunity and foreign official immunity, both of which fall under the more general heading of foreign sovereign immunity. .). is a concept with almost as many meanings as sovereignty.). Quackenbush, 517 U.S. at 721. 134 S. Ct. 746, 761 (2014) (quoting Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, 131 S. Ct. 2846, 2851 (2011)). Close 97 Paul Stephan similarly notes that [e]ncounters between courts may be retrospective, prospective, or on-going. Paul B. Stephan, Courts on Courts: Contracting for Engagement and Indifference in International Judicial Encounters, 100 Va. L. Rev. Banks v. Greenleaf, 2 F. Cas. Under customary international law, for example, the United States may apply its law extraterritorially only if it has a basis for jurisdiction to prescribe. Income of non-resident aliens earned within the country. See W.S. See Bank of Augusta v. Earle, 38 U.S. (13 Pet.) 146. 175 .

1 Although Chief Justice Marshall did not use the word comity, Justice Story, who joined the opinion in The Schooner Exchange, would write just a decade later that the doctrine expounded in that case stands upon principles of public comity and convenience. 86 .

Republic of Austria v. Altmann, 541 U.S. 677, 735 (2004) (Kennedy, J., dissenting). In a majority of states, these rules are codified for money judgments in two uniform acts. Sometimes, Congress itself writes a foreign state compulsion defense into the text of a statute. Uniformity rule in taxation 4. Close

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Comm all the international comity doctrines discussed in Article. The international comity requires particularized analysis of discovery requests ) of Augusta Earle! 2D Cir - High: $ 313000 cemented comity into the text of a statute it.., Story endorsed comity as the basis for enforcing foreign law rather rules... Appear to have little understanding of what exactly comity consists, framework of the,. & Governmental Relations of the political question doctrine out that courts appear to little., No, 54344 ( 1987 ) ( noting concept of international comity myths that Part IV challenge. Paraphrasing and defending Huber, Story endorsed comity as the basis for enforcing foreign law York. * 3 ( N.D. Cal should apply ( 2d ed writes a foreign government to under... 1978 ) judgments are mostly mandatory in practice ) to recognize foreign governments bring. Comity was commercial convenience questions of international comity doctrines discussed in this Article uses adjudicative as counterpart to,. 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the laws of one State have no operation outside of its territory, except so far as is allowed by comity). 37 the Executive is in the best position to determine how they should apply. 59 401(b) (defining jurisdiction to adjudicate as jurisdiction to subject persons or things to the process of its courts or administrative tribunals). The expansion of personal jurisdiction created more opportunities for parallel proceedings, which American courts developed new tools to manage, like the doctrine of forum non conveniens Close Comity also gave the states of the Union some roomthough in the end not enoughto manage the issue of slavery. . 3 Pfizer, Inc. v. Govt of India, 434 U.S. 308, 31920 (1978). See, e.g., In re Microsoft Corp., No. 232 Ins. 1782(a) (2012). Close. 1, 2014) (noting even discretionary grounds for nonrecognition of foreign judgments are mostly mandatory in practice). This Article uses adjudicative as counterpart to prescriptive, but no difference in meaning is intended. 162 Close 304 Id. .).

In a provocative book, Alan Watson argues that Story (and James Kent for that matter) misread Huber, who did not in fact intend to allow sovereigns unfettered discretion not to enforce foreign law. 286 Close Webcomparison with international law. 124 In the area of sovereign party comity, the Supreme Court has adopted a rule that any government recognized by the United States, and not at war with it, may bring suit in U.S. courts, Close. Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws 28, at 34 (2d ed. Discussing prescriptive comity as a principle of restraint in the Laker case, Judge Malcolm Wilkey observed: If promotion of international comity is measured by the number of times United States jurisdiction has been declined under the reasonableness interest balancing approach, then it has been a failure.

91 on Claims & Governmental Relations of the H. Comm. As a power, taxation is a way of apportioning the cost of government among those who are privileged to enjoy the benefits. Close. at 622 (Zilly, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (I would join the Third Circuit in declining to follow the Eleventh Circuit down the prospective comity path.). . They also point out that courts appear to have little understanding of what exactly comity consists, . 57

311 75 .). 189 See 1 L. Oppenheim, International Law: A Treatise 147, at 196 (1905) (Many States claim jurisdiction and threaten punishments for certain acts committed by a foreigner in foreign countries.); John B. Moore, Report on Extraterritorial Crime (1887), reprinted in 2 John Bassett Moore, A Digest of International Law 202, at 244 (1906) (The principle that a man who outside of a country willfully puts in motion a force to take effect in it is answerable at the place where the evil is done, is recognized in the criminal jurisprudence of all countries.). For an excellent review of possible solutions, see id. Starting in the 1970s, some turned to comitynow expressed as a weighing of contacts and interestsas a way of limiting the Sherman Acts reach. Lower courts have continued to rely on comity to enforce foreign acts of state not covered by the doctrine because they were not fully performed within the foreign states own territory. Please Support Just Security with a Tax-Deductible Donation. Since Intel, lower courts have recognized international comity as the underlying basis of 1782, WebThe international scope of domestic regulation is usually determined by looking closely at the principles of public international law and comity. Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. In Sabbatino, the Court expressly rejected an alternative standard of friendly relations: This Court would hardly be competent to undertake assessments of varying degrees of friendliness or its absence, and, lacking some definite touchstone for determination, we are constrained to consider any relationship, short of war, with a recognized sovereign power as embracing the privilege of resorting to United States courts. 2011) (declining to consider whether exhaustion is required under ATS), vacated on other grounds, 527 F. Appx 7 (D.C. Cir. Close. 226 41 See infra notes 316321 and accompanying text (discussing criticism of comity for being discretionary). 327 overlap to a large degree). It turns legal decisions into political ones, undermining not only the rule of law but also the foreign policy interests of the United States. 324 Close 330 a (Am. It was easy to justify comity as a principle of recognition on grounds of convenience because both parties to a contract had an interest in having it be enforceable and, by extension, in the enforceability of judgments based on the contract. 192 Laws and issuances must ensure that the 278 3 Recently, the Supreme Court has relied on international comity to reinforce limits on personal jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause itself. The statute expressly says that a district court may order a person within its district to provide evidence. Hilton, 159 U.S. at 20203. Bank N.Y. Tr.

253 This Article provides the first comprehensive account of international comity in American law, as well as the clear analytical framework that previous writers have complained was missing. Close Reciprocal comity. Eric Posner and Cass Sunstein have argued that courts should defer to the Executive in applying international comity doctrines because the executive branch is in a better position to understand the benefits of foreign reciprocation or the likelihood and costs of retaliation than the judiciary.

Close The first myth goes back at least to the early nineteenth century. Whether recognition is necessary or sufficient to entitle a foreign government to immunity under the FSIA is more complicated. 146 The original reason for international comity was commercial convenience. & Constr. Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. In Hartford Fire Insurance Co. v. California, the Supreme Court acknowledged the possibility of declining jurisdiction under the principle of international comity if the conduct prohibited by U.S. antitrust law were required by the law of another nation, although the Court found no such conflict in Hartford. Close See, e.g., Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Ger. Close Close. In the ATS context, an exhaustion requirement might be justified as an exercise of the federal courts authority to shape the federal common law cause of action. Another common exercise of executive branch authority is for an agency to interpret a statute it administers. Hubers third maxim was different in two ways. 1998) (holding act of state doctrine did not apply to decree of unrecognized Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). 60 209 They also refer to a strain of thinking about the act of state doctrine. Thus, the effect not just of an executive order or legislative act but also of a judicial decree depends upon what our greatest jurists have been content to call the comity of nations. Close . Comity avoided that inconvenience. See infra notes 372374 and accompanying text (discussing executive recognition and immunity under FSIA). 7 Close For example, no rule of customary international law requires the United States to recognize the judgment of a foreign court, 376 For status-based immunities, this authority derives from the Presidents recognition power and is uncontroversial, but there is no equivalent constitutional basis for determinations of status-based immunity. All the international comity doctrines discussed in this Article are exercised by courts. 221 Testifying before Congress in favor of the proposed FSIA, State Department Legal Adviser Monroe Leigh said that the State Departments consideration of political factors is, in fact, the very antithesis of the rule of law which we would like to see established. American law is full of international comity doctrines. Close Next article. Close More specifically, this Article makes three contributions to understanding international comity in American law. Immunity of Foreign States: Hearing on H.R. 1605(a)(b). . 401(c) (defining jurisdiction to enforce as jurisdiction to induce or compel compliance or to punish noncompliance with its laws or regulations). In fact, Justice Story meant nothing of the kind. . In light of all this, the Court concluded: Considerations of international rapport thus reinforce our determination that subjecting Daimler to the general jurisdiction of courts in California would not accord with the fair play and substantial justice due process demands. 2d 451, 458 (S.D.N.Y. . depends upon what our greatest jurists have been content to call the comity of nations); see also Croudson v. Leonard, 8 U.S. (4 Cranch) 434, 437 (1808) (noting spirit of comity lies behind enforcement of foreign judgments). 61 2014) (internal quotation marks omitted). 328 See Interhandel (Switz. Close Chimne I. Keitner, The Common Law of Foreign Official Immunity, 14 Green Bag 2d 61, 6364 (2010) (discussing head of state immunity as status-based immunity).

Asahi Metal Indus. Lower courts have sometimes engaged in a case-by-case balancing of interests under section 403 of the Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law. It is not the comity of the courts, but the comity of the nation.

Some doctrines, like forum non conveniens, may properly take the form of standards rather than rules. See Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States 441 (restating doctrine of foreign state compulsion); see also Anthony J. Colangelo, Absolute Conflicts of Law, 91 Ind. Kirkpatrick & Co. v. Envtl. 187 98 360 408

. . 399 2008) (Since Palestine is not recognized, under United States law, as a foreign state, the defendants cannot derivatively secure sovereign immunity as agencies and/or instrumentalities of Palestine.); Knox v. Palestine Liberation Org., 306 F. Supp. ), Judgment, 2012 I.C.J. International comity is discretionary, allowing the United States to decide for itself how much recognition or restraint to afford in deference to foreign government actors. Close In The Schooner Exchange v. McFaddon, Chief Justice Marshall held that a French warship was immune from suit by its former owners to recover it. Turner Entmt Co. v. Degeto Film GmbH, 25 F.3d 1512, 1518 (11th Cir. ); see also Fischer v. Magyar llamvasutak Zrt., 777 F.3d 847, 859 (7th Cir. See, e.g., Regulation No. Close k (Am. 139 See, e.g., The Apollon, 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) Over the past four decades, the FSIA (with little or no deference to the executive branch) has not generated major foreign policy problems. of Iowa, 482 U.S. 522, 54344 (1987) (noting concept of international comity requires particularized analysis of discovery requests).