Article IV of the U.S. Constitution includes what's known as the Full Faith and Credit Clause. The clause states that "full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state." This means that each state should respect court decisions made in other states, even if the law of that state is different.
Significance
If a California resident, for example, sues a Texas resident in California courts for fraud, the Full Faith and Credit Clause says the outcome is binding in both states. If the California resident wins, he can ask the Texas government to enforce the court verdict without having to fight the case again in Texas. In practice, the "Virginia Law Review" states, there are many exceptions to the rule.
History
The Founding Fathers wrote the clause into the Constitution, the Free Dictionary states, to make sure the 13 colonial governments would respect each other's court decisions. Congress turned the principle of the clause into federal law in 1790, and the Supreme Court affirmed the principle of full faith and credit in 1935.
Considerations
From the 1790 act onward, the meaning of the clause has been murky, "Virginia Law Review" states; even that original act stated that the clause didn't justify one state's "improper interference" in the affairs of another without defining what that meant. Congress has repeatedly passed rules specifying which state court decisions are binding elsewhere; child custody decisions weren't binding on other states until 1980 and restraining orders not until 1994.
Controversy
As part of the Full Faith and Credit principle, marriages in one state are recognized throughout the rest of the union. In 1993, however, Hawaii's Supreme Court ruled that barring same-sex marriage violated the state Constitution; in 1996, according to the LectLaw website, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which decrees that same-sex marriage isn't covered by the clause: No state is obligated to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the country.
Benefits
Despite the disagreements over apply it, the Full Faith and Credit Clause is a valuable Constitutional principle, the Washington Legal Foundation states. Without it, plaintiffs with the money for long legal battles could shift from state to state in endless litigation, regardless of the time and expense it would put on the judicial system.
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