美国各州之间法律和判决的承认规则——联邦最高法院对宪法中“充分信任和尊重”条款的司法解释

Guidelines for Interstate Recognition of Laws and Judgments——The U. S. Supreme Court's Interpretation of Full Faith and Credit Clause

“充分信任和尊重”条款是美国联邦宪法第四条中的第一款,它要求每个州对于他州的公共法律、案卷和司法程序,应给予充分信任和尊重。在具体的司法实践中,联邦最高法院对“各州信任和尊重外州公共法律”的要求是相当宽松的,而对各州信任和尊重外州判决的要求却近乎苛刻。这主要是因为过分强调对各州法律的信任和尊重会造成一州为另一州立法或一州法律只能在外州执行的荒谬结果,而强调对判决的信任和尊重却可以在不过分损害各州主权的前提下促进联邦的统一性。

Article IV, Section 1 of the U. S. Constitution provides that Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state . When interpreting this clause, the U. S. Supreme Court leaves each state great freedom to ignore public acts of other states, but demands each state' s honoring sister state' s judgments stringently. That is mainly because a rigid and literal enforcement of the Full Faith and Credit clause will lead to the absurd result that one state legislates for the other or wherever the conflict arises, the statute of each state must be enforced in the courts of the other, but cannot be in its own. While enforcement of sister-state judgments can promote integrity of the federation, imposing only weak limits on the sovereign power of a state to control behavior within its borders.