The Research On Jurisdiction Of Alien Tort Statute Litigation

The Alien Tort Statute,enacted in 1789 as part of the first Judiciary Act,it allows alien plaintiffs to bring an ATS litigation in U.S.federal district courts for torts violating the law of nations or U.S.treaties,being codified as 28 U.S.C.§1350(2006).From the Statute we can see,civil jurisdiction and International jurisdiction twisted around each other in ATS litigation,which is a unique jurisdiction in the U.S.considering there are several ATS litigation involving Chinese companies or citizens,it is urgent and important to discuss the jurisdiction in ATS litigation.Whether the federal court can exercise the jurisdiction is the key to ATS litigation,only to solve the jurisdiction,ATS litigation can proceed smoothly.There are three periods in the history ATS litigation.ATS has not been concerned after it enacted,and no one shows any interest in it.Federal court exercise the jurisdiction in Filártiga case in 1980,open the door of the ATS litigation.However,the Supreme Court made the Kiobel case decision in 2013,overturned previous Filártiga case decision about the jurisdiction rationale,and restrained the jurisdiction.the federal court made a different decision in the same type case in different period of time,this profound change has further aggravated the complexity of jurisdiction in ATS litigation,and it also has aroused wide attention and heated discussion in the judicial circle and academic circles.The federal court made the opposite decision in Jurisdiction of ATS litigation,making jurisdiction more complicated and whirling.In order to poke the frog,figure out whether federal court has jurisdiction,we should analysis the personal jurisdiction and the subject matter jurisdiction.The federal court prefer to exercise the jurisdiction when the case have a substantial relationship with the United States,either the defendant is the United States government,legal persons,citizens,or the tort which"violating the law of nations or U.S.treaties" happened in the United States.Considering the subject matter jurisdiction,due to the ATS is a federal statutes contains jurisdiction and cause of action,the federal court only has jurisdiction in ATS litigation which suit for genocide,racial discrimination,torture or other cruel,inhuman treatment,slaves,the slave trade,arbitrary detention.However,what we should pay attention is that even if the ATS litigation meets the personal jurisdiction and the subject matters jurisdiction,federal court could decline to exercise its jurisdiction by exhaustion of local remedies rule,comity or Forum non conveniens.It can be seen that the federal court’s attitude to exercise the jurisdiction of ATS litigation is becoming increasingly clear,we could predict that federal court will constrain the jurisdiction in ATS litigation for a long period.Then,when Chinese people involving the ATS litigation as the plaintiff of the ATS lawsuit,on the one hand,it is necessary to make sure that the defendant has a substantial connection with the United States,either the defendant is the United States government,legal persons,citizens,or the tort which "violating the law of nations or U.S.treaties" happened in the United States.On the other hand,they should be alert to the federal court refusing to exercise jurisdiction by exhaustion of local remedies rule,comity or Forum non conveniens.When Chinese people involving the ATS litigation as the defendant of the ATS lawsuit,they could show that there was no substantial link between the case and the United States,there was no insistence by plaintiff on the exhaustion of local remedies,or there was no more convenient court.