The United States is a one-of-a-kind nation made up of 50 states, each with its own set of laws. To keep the country running smoothly, states must respect important legal actions and decisions made by other states. That’s where Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution comes in.
Article IV, Section 1:
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
According to Article IV, Section 1, states are required to honor the laws of other states, even if the rules differ. For example, if a child is legally adopted in Texas, the adoption must still be recognized after the family moves to Ohio. Likewise, if a court in California orders someone to repay a debt, that person cannot escape the ruling simply by moving to another state. The full faith and credit clause applies in most cases, but a court may refuse to honor another state’s judgment if the original court did not follow the proper legal procedures.
In a Supreme Court case that overturned a ruling allowing one state to be sued in the courts of another, the Court cited Article IV, Section 1 and explained in the majority decision that “State sovereign immunity in another State’s courts is integral to the structure of the Constitution.”
America’s founders rigorously debated the meaning and scope of full faith and credit – a principle originally addressed in the Articles of Confederation - before including it in the US Constitution. Unfortunately, no records explain why the framers decided to require states to honor one another’s laws and judgments rather than merely encourage them to do so, leaving historians to question their reasoning.
