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State Law, U.S. Power, Foreign Disputes: Understanding The Extraterritorial Effects Of State Law In The Wake Of Morrison V. National Australia Bank, Katherine Florey

Katherine J. Florey

The recent Supreme Court case of Morrison v. National Australia Bank embraced a sweeping version of the presumption against extraterritorial application of federal law, and in doing so dramatically restricted the potential applicability of federal securities law to foreign litigants and transactions. This development has attracted a wealth of commentary, most of which has focused on the implications for the future treatment of federal statutes that may apply to foreign conduct.

Scholars have overlooked, however, perhaps the most remarkable consequence of the Court’s opinion in Morrison: the fact that it in effects makes state law more widely applicable abroad than …