Hilton vs.

Guyot (1895) FACTS: Guyot, a Frenchman, sued Hilton, an American, in a French court for the recovery of a sum of money. The French court rendered judgment in favor of Guyot. Plaintiff brought the action to a US court to recover the sum of money adjudged by the French court to be due from the defendant to the plaintiff. ISSUE: Whether or not a judgment of a foreign nations court entitled to full credit and has a conclusive effect when sued to other nation. HELD: No law has any effect, of its own force, beyond the limits of the sovereignty from which its authority is derived. The extent to which the law of one nation, as put in force within its territory, whether by executive order, by legislative act, or by judicial decree shall be allowed to operate within the dominion of another nation depends upon the comity of nations. A foreign judgment is not entitled to full faith and credit when sued upon another nation, but is a prima facie evidence only of the claim.