Symposium: The Restatement (Fourth)

• Dodge, William S 1

Abstract

This article responds to Cedric Ryngaert’s commentary on the treatment of the customary international law of jurisdiction in the Restatement of the Law (Fourth): The Foreign Relations Law of the United States. With respect to prescriptive jurisdiction, the article explains that the Restatement (Fourth) has not abandoned reasonableness as a rule of customary international law, although its ‘genuine connection’ requirement differs from the interest-balancing approach of the Restatement (Third). With respect to adjudicative jurisdiction, the article explains that the Restatement does not exclude the possibility of limits under customary international law but simply finds that no such limits currently exist, apart from the rules on foreign sovereign immunity. In each case, the Restatement reflects a modest approach to the customary international law of jurisdiction that insists on state practice and opinio juris.

• 1Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law and John D. Ayer Chair in Business Law, School of Law, University of California, Davis, CA, USA