Also known as: public acts · public statute
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legislative enactment of a state that creates rights or duties. Sister states must recognize the enactment under the Full Faith and Credit Clause when it supplies the governing rule for a dispute.
Pilar Pena, a Wisconsin resident, died in an Illinois accident. Her estate sued in Wisconsin under the Illinois wrongful death statute. The Wisconsin court applied the Illinois statute as the governing public act rather than dismissing the claim under local law.
Philip Powell obtained a default judgment in Oregon against a nonresident defendant. When he sought enforcement in California, the California court examined whether the Oregon statute authorizing the judgment qualified as a public act entitled to full faith and credit.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Piper Patel sued in federal court in Maryland after a prior state-court dismissal in Virginia. The federal court determined whether the Virginia dismissal statute operated as a public act that controlled the preclusive effect of the judgment in the new proceeding.
Parker Phillips, a Kansas royalty owner, challenged Phillips Petroleum's interest calculations under multiple state statutes. The Supreme Court considered whether Kansas could apply its own public act to out-of-state claims without violating full faith and credit obligations to other states' laws.
Patricia Patel, a Tennessee voter, sued over malapportioned legislative districts created by a 1901 statute. The Court assessed whether the Tennessee public act governing district lines raised a justiciable federal question.
Portia Price, injured while working in Vermont for a New Hampshire employer, sought benefits under New Hampshire's workers' compensation statute. The Court evaluated whether the New Hampshire public act controlled the claim despite Vermont's competing statute.
A public act is a state legislative enactment that creates substantive rights or duties. A judicial proceeding is a court judgment or order. The Constitution requires recognition of both, but the analysis for statutes focuses on whether the forum may apply its own law instead of the sister-state statute.
No. Full faith and credit generally requires recognition of a sister-state statute even if the forum disagrees with its policy, provided the statute creates enforceable rights and the forum has a sufficient connection to the dispute.
No. A forum may decline enforcement when it lacks jurisdiction over the claim, but it cannot close its courts to a cause of action created by another state's public act solely to avoid the constitutional obligation.
…were rendered, under the provision of the Constitution requiring that "full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State;" and the act of Congress providing for the mode of authenticating such acts, records, and proceedings, and declaring that, when thus…