Suddenly No Punting



Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Not In Follansbee Posts: 3,952

Loss Leader Originally Posted by Really? I thought it was.



To use the prostitute example, if I go to a place where prostitution is legal and contract with a prostitute to have sex with me as desired over the next six months, then move to a state where prostitution is illegal, that state is not bound to honor the contract in court in the case of a lawsuit for breach of that contract.



(They'd also arrest me, which is a pretty strong indication of adverse public policy, but past that this is a separate issue from enforcement of a contract)



States have generally recognized marriages of other states. Before 1967, some states refused to recognize interracial marriage, the US Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia ended this as a matter of Equal Protection.



A current example would be a person marrying a first cousin in a state where that was legal, another state (like West Virginia) that makes such a marriage illegal would be able to not recognize the marriage on public policy grounds. It can get more complicated than this, and state decisions are all over the map when deciding when to recognize for what purpose.



Congress has power to affect the procedural aspects of full faith and credit, like how in one state I can prove and enforce a judgment for damages or specific performance from a lawsuit in another state, that sort of thing. It can't by statute affect the basic content of the clause, this requires a constitutional amendment. Full faith and credit is geared toward judicial findings and proceedings. A marriage is more of a contract, and the general rule is that a state can refuse to honor a contract if it violates some public policy of a state.To use the prostitute example, if I go to a place where prostitution is legal and contract with a prostitute to have sex with me as desired over the next six months, then move to a state where prostitution is illegal, that state is not bound to honor the contract in court in the case of a lawsuit for breach of that contract.(They'd also arrest me, which is a pretty strong indication of adverse public policy, but past that this is a separate issue from enforcement of a contract)States have generally recognized marriages of other states. Before 1967, some states refused to recognize interracial marriage, the US Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia ended this as a matter of Equal Protection.A current example would be a person marrying a first cousin in a state where that was legal, another state (like West Virginia) that makes such a marriage illegal would be able to not recognize the marriage on public policy grounds. It can get more complicated than this, and state decisions are all over the map when deciding when to recognize for what purpose.Congress has power to affect the procedural aspects of full faith and credit, like how in one state I can prove and enforce a judgment for damages or specific performance from a lawsuit in another state, that sort of thing. It can't by statute affect the basic content of the clause, this requires a constitutional amendment.