Just as SCOTUS rejected the World Court superceding our criminal law – and I believe that was a very good decision in terms of our sovereignty – other nations are free to reject our judgements:
The court said that a peculiarity of American law — punitive damages — was so offensive to Italian notions of justice that it would not enforce the Alabama judgment.
Most of the rest of the world views the idea of punitive damages with alarm. As the Italian court explained, private lawsuits brought by injured people should have only one goal — compensation for a loss. Allowing separate awards meant to punish the defendant, foreign courts say, is a terrible idea.
Punishments, they say, should be meted out only by the criminal justice system, with its elaborate due process protections and disinterested prosecutors. It is not fair, they add, to give plaintiffs a windfall beyond what they have lost. And the ad hoc opinions of a jury, they say, are a poor substitute for the considered judgments of government safety regulators.
Again, abstinence works. Just like the solution for not being subject to other nation’s laws is to either stay out of those countries or make darn sure you don’t break a law there, if we don’t want to risk having a judgment against a foreign company go unpaid, either buy American or take your chances.
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