Despite suggestions that federal law should govern all relations with other countries, state law and state courts play a prominent role in transnational litigation. State law governs the enforcement of foreign judgments and the choice of law for state-created causes of action. State courts apply their own doctrines of forum non conveniens. And the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure incorporate state law on questions from personal jurisdiction to service of process.
A Primer on State Law in Transnational Litigation
The procedural and substantive rules that U.S. courts apply in transnational litigation come from many sources, including the U.S. Constitution, international treaties, customary international law, federal statutes, federal rules, and federal common law (both preemptive and non-preemptive)—but also, state statutes, state rules, and state common law. This primer focuses on the underappreciated role of state…
Continue ReadingULC International Litigation Study Committee
The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has formed a Study Committee on International Litigation Procedures. The ULC, also known as the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, was established in 1892 to provides states with non-partisan legislation on critical areas of state statutory law. State law plays a significant role in international litigation. The…
Continue ReadingNew Scholarship on State Laws Limiting the Activities of Foreigners
States are important actors in U.S. foreign relations. TLB has, for example, covered New Jersey’s efforts to sanction Russia, Florida’s restrictions on alien ownership of property, and state court litigation on climate change, as well as state procedural law on forum non-conveniens and other topics. In the near term, litigation that challenges state regulation…
Continue ReadingSecond Circuit Allows Securities Claims Against Crypto-Asset Exchange
In Morrison v. National Australia Bank (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court applied the presumption against extraterritoriality to § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act, holding that this provision applies only to transactions in the United States. Morrison’s transactional test has proven difficult to apply to unlisted securities that do not trade on an exchange. In…
Continue Reading