The Errors of Comity: Forum Non-Conveniens Returns to the Second Circuit

Abstract

What is a federal court expected to do when asked to enforce a foreign arbitral award; what constraints do Conventions impose on its normal course of adjudication? This article examines this question from a narrow standpoint which has been troublesome to the Second Circuit, that is what remains of the inherent power of a common-law court to defer or dismiss litigation of a Convention case on the grounds that it constitutes an “inconvenient” forum.