Also known as: comity · principles of comity · comity doctrine · international comity
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A principle of deference under which one sovereign or court respects the laws, judgments, or proceedings of another sovereign or court. The principle guides federal courts to abstain from interfering with ongoing state proceedings absent extraordinary circumstances.
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Parker Phillips faces state criminal charges for alleged fraud in State A. He files a federal suit seeking to enjoin the prosecution on constitutional grounds. The federal court abstains because the state proceeding is ongoing and no bad-faith harassment appears.
Paul Peterson obtains a default judgment in State A against a nonresident whose property lies only in State B. When he seeks to enforce the judgment against land in State B, the State B court refuses recognition because the rendering court lacked power over the property.
Portia Price sues her former spouse in federal court for tort damages arising from alleged abuse during their marriage. The federal court dismisses the action, leaving the issues of custody and support to the state tribunal that already handles the divorce decree.
Patriot Insurance, a U.S. firm, sues foreign reinsurers in federal court over agreements formed abroad that affect U.S. markets. The court weighs the foreign sovereign's interest in regulating its own insurers and declines to apply U.S. antitrust law extraterritorially.
Paula Pierce, a foreign national, sues a foreign corporation in U.S. court for alleged human-rights violations committed entirely abroad. The court dismisses the action, concluding that comity and the presumption against extraterritorial reach counsel against adjudicating the foreign dispute.
Priscilla Parks receives a life sentence without parole in State A for a minor repeat offense. On federal habeas review the court examines whether the sentence is grossly disproportionate, respecting the state court's primary role in setting criminal penalties while applying constitutional limits.
Federal courts must generally abstain from enjoining ongoing state criminal proceedings absent extraordinary circumstances such as bad-faith prosecution or a flagrantly unconstitutional statute. This rule protects the state's interest in enforcing its criminal laws without federal interference.
Supporting sources
A state tribunal may recognize and enforce a foreign support order on the basis of comity and may apply its own procedural and substantive provisions when doing so. Remedies under the Act remain cumulative with other available remedies.
Supporting sources
…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…