GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Status

Working

Abstract

Despite the common understanding that the Full Faith and Credit Clause and Act do not apply to foreign judgments, these provisions do sometimes intrude on the recognition and enforcement of such judgments. This essay discusses two such situations. The first is when a court in one U.S. state recognizes a foreign judgment. The question then arises whether the U.S. judgment recognizing the foreign judgment is entitled to full faith and credit in other U.S. states. The second situation is when a foreign judgment and a domestic judgment conflict. When domestic judgments conflict, the usual rule in the United States is that the last in time should be given priority. Courts have generally extended this last-in-time rule to foreign judgments. But when the conflict is between a foreign judgment that is not entitled to full faith and credit and a domestic judgment that is, should the Full Faith and Credit Clause instead break the tie, giving priority to the domestic judgment regardless of the order in time?

GW Paper Series

2025-31

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