外国公法在美国法院的效力和适用

The Effect and Application of Foreign Public Law in the United States Courts

美国法院在面临外国公法适用的情形下,一如其扩张国内法的域外效力时不顾忌法律规范的性质一样,在规范层面并没有对外国公法进入冲突法领域进行任何限制。但这不意味着美国法在对待外国公法上采取了和欧陆国家及英国截然不同的立场,实则美国法没有将此问题独立出来,而是在冲突法体系的既有框架内解决外国公法的适用与否问题。美国法院将礼让原则作为解决法律冲突的基石,也作为是否承认和适用外国公法的指导原则。受冲突法确立起来的“存在真实冲突→政府利益分析”选法思路的影响,美国法院发展出“多要素礼让分析”的方法去处理涉及外国公法冲突的案件。美国法院对外国公法的尊重或采用是个系统工程,在国家行为原则、事项管辖权、证据披露义务等程序问题上也会考虑承认外国公法的效力。

Just as its attitude to expand the extraterritorial effect of domestic public law, the US does not care about the public nature of legal norms when respecting the effect of foreign law. The United States has not imposed any prescriptive restrictions on the application of foreign public law in the field of private international law. However, it does not mean that the US law adopts a position different from that of European continental countries and the United Kingdom in dealing with foreign public law. In fact, the distinction between public law and private law does not exist in the United States. By borrowing the conflicts law approaches, the US courts use the principle of international comity to determine the effect and application of foreign public law. In the influence of the exist of real conflicts and governmental interests analysis, which was established by the conflict of laws, the US courts take Multi-Factor Comity Analysis Test to decide whether to allow the parties to comply with foreign public law in civil proceedings. The application of foreign public law by US courts is a systematic mechanism, and the effect of foreign public law will also be considered in procedural issues such as Act of State Doctrine, subject matter jurisdiction and the disclosure of evidence.