Alien Tort Statute
|
|
The Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1350, was part of the Judiciary Act of 1789. It simply states that "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." In 1789 this would have included torts which occurred during acts of piracy, violations of safe-conducts, or interference with the rights of ambassadors.
It was on the books but very rarely used for 190 years, until revived by the decision in Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876 (2d Cir. 1980), a case which involved a suit by relatives of a Paraguayan who was kidnapped and tortured by the defendant, a Paraguayan police official. This sort of matter is now covered by the Torture Victim Protection Act (1992).
The Alien Tort Statute remains in use as plaintiffs try to find some basis for jurisdiction for claims involving torts arguably in violation of modern international law and about 100 suits have been filed under the act since 1980. Importantly, the statute provides a legal venue to victims who could not otherwise bring their oppressors to justice by allowing U.S. courts to decide human rights cases even when neither party has any connection whatsoever to the United States (however, the accused perpetrator must be in the U.S. to be served court papers). However, if the defendant in a claim brought under the Alien Tort Statute is a foreign sovereign state (or some agency or subdivision thereof), the jurisdictional requirements of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act still must be satisfied before a court can hear the claim.
One area which has recently excited opposition is the use of the statute to sue American and other international corporations for damages which result from their actions in other countries. The opposing position of the National Association of Manufacturers has been adopted by the administration of George W. Bush, but has not resulted in a United States Supreme Court decision which precludes such legal actions.
External links
- Alien Tort Claims Act (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/torts3y/readings/update-a-02.html) from [cyber.law.harvard.edu cyber.law.harvard.edu]
- Is the Alien Tort Claims Act a powerful human rights tool? (http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/12/sebok.alien.tort.claims/) from [www.cnn.com www.cnn.com]
- Defend the Alien Tort Claims Act (http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/atca/) from Human Rights Watch
- Info on statute from the National Association of Manufacturers (http://www.nam.org/s_nam/sec.asp?CID=377&DID=375).de:Alien Tort Claims Act