Also known as: principle of comity · comity principles · comity · international comity · judicial comity
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A doctrine requiring courts of one sovereign to show deference and respect to the judicial proceedings and laws of another sovereign. The doctrine typically results in abstention from interference with ongoing state actions absent extraordinary circumstances such as bad-faith prosecution. It also supports recognition of foreign support orders and substitution of full-faith-and-credit commands for earlier discretionary practices.
Pavel Petrov faces ongoing state criminal charges in state court for alleged fraud. He files a federal suit seeking to enjoin the prosecution on constitutional grounds. The federal court declines to issue the injunction because the state proceeding remains active and no showing of bad-faith harassment appears in the record.
Priscilla Parks obtains a divorce decree in State A while her spouse resides in State B. State B later questions the decree's validity when child-support issues arise. The court in State B extends recognition to the State A decree rather than treating the states as independent foreign sovereignties.
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Piper Patel secures a money judgment in State X against a corporate defendant. The defendant relocates assets to State Y. The State Y court enforces the judgment as a matter of right rather than exercising discretion to ignore obligations created under another state's laws.
Phuong Pham, a State A resident, is served with process while temporarily in State B. State B asserts jurisdiction over her property located there. The court recognizes that each state possesses exclusive sovereignty over persons and property within its territory under established principles of public law.
Patricia Patel sues her former spouse in federal court for tort damages arising from alleged interference with child custody. The federal court dismisses the action because it would require issuance of a custody decree, an area reserved to state tribunals with specialized expertise.
Paula Pierce obtains a tax judgment in State C against a corporate taxpayer. The taxpayer moves assets to State D. The State D court treats the judgment as creating an obligation enforceable as of right rather than as a matter of optional comity between independent sovereignties.
A district court may abstain from hearing a proceeding arising under title 11 or arising in or related to a case under title 11 in the interest of comity with State courts or respect for State law. This authority is expressly preserved by 28 U.S.C. § 1334(c)(1) and rests on principles of federalism.
The full faith and credit clause substituted a constitutional command for the former discretionary practice of comity. It altered the status of the states from independent foreign sovereignties to integral parts of a single nation. As a result, a valid judgment from one state must be enforced in another even if the forum state would not entertain the underlying suit.
Yes. A tribunal may recognize and enforce a support order from a foreign country or political subdivision on the basis of comity. When doing so the tribunal may apply its own procedural and substantive provisions and may receive evidence or communicate with the foreign tribunal under the act's discovery and communication sections.
…an elementary principle, that the laws of one State have no operation outside of its territory, except so far as is allowed by comity; and that no tribunal established by it can extend its process beyond that territory so as to subject either persons or property to its decisions. "Any exertion of authority of this sort…