MBE Rules · Constitutional Law
Full Faith & Credit Clause
Art. IV §1
The rule
Each state must give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. A sister-state judgment must be recognized if the rendering court had jurisdiction, the judgment was on the merits, and it is final. Public policy exceptions are largely unavailable for judgments (unlike for choice of law).
In plain English
Comes up when a party tries to enforce a judgment (custody, divorce, damages) across state lines. Recognition is essentially automatic if the three conditions are met.
The trap
Assuming a state can refuse a sister-state judgment on public-policy grounds — it can for choice-of-law, not for enforcement of judgments.
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