미국의 비편의 법정의 원칙(Doctrine of Forum Non Conveniens)에 관한 소고 - 사익적·공익적 요소를 중심으로 -

Forum non conveniens is a common law doctrine that allows a court to dismiss a case although personal jurisdiction and venue are proper. The revised Korean Private International Law, which passed the National Assembly on December 9, 2021 and came into effect on July 5, 2022, explicitly introduced the ʻdoctrine of forum non conveniensʼ in Article 12. It provides discretionary powers to courts to decline existing jurisdiction. Article 12 of Korean Private International Law states, ʻʻEven if our court has international jurisdiction, there are clearly exceptional circumstances in which the court is inappropriate to exercise international jurisdiction and a foreign court with international jurisdiction is more appropriate to resolve the dispute.ʼʼ The court may not grant a forum non conveniens dismissal unless there is another forum that could hear the case and potentially recover damages. Courts, therefore, may not grant a forum non conveniens dismissal where the alternative forumʼs judicial system is inadequate. In this paper, the author explores the forum non conveniens doctrine in the United States. The Statesʼ experience with forum non conveniens provides a useful case study for examining conditions of the doctrine.