Доктрины воздержания в американском судопроизводстве.

Doctrine prevalent in the American judiciary

An abstention doctrine is any of several doctrines that a United States court may (or in some cases must) apply to refuse to hear a case if hearing the case would potentially intrude upon the powers of another court. Such doctrines are usually invoked where lawsuits involving the same issues are brought in two different court systems at the same time (such as federal and state courts). The United States has a federal court system with limitations on the cases that it can hear, while each state has its own individual court system. In some instances, the jurisdiction of these courts overlap, so a lawsuit between two parties may be brought in either or both courts. The latter circumstance can lead to confusion, waste resources, as well as cause the appearance that one court is disrespecting the other. Both federal and state courts have developed rules determining when one court will defer to another's jurisdiction over a particular case.

The various abstention doctrines applied by federal courts are named for the United States Supreme Court cases in which they were enunciated.

Under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, civil courts cannot delve into matters that focus on "theological controversy, church discipline, ecclesiastical government, or the conformity of the members of a church to the standard of morals required of them." Inserting the court’s secular values into religious affairs, the rationale goes, would inject the "power of the state into the forbidden area of religious freedom contrary to the principles of the First Amendment." Courts have also declined to resolve disputes arising out of a business's claim that some good or service complied with the laws of a particular religion. In Mammon v. SCI Funeral Service of Florida, Inc, the Florida Court of Appeals cited the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine in rejecting a fraud and emotional distress lawsuit where a cemetery allegedly failed to provide a "proper Jewish burial" to the plaintiff's husband. Other courts have issued similar rulings in disputes over foods claimed to be Kosher or Halal where that status was disputed.

The Rooker Feldman doctrine has some characteristics of an abstention doctrine, because it prohibits federal court review of state court actions. However, it does not require federal courts to abstain from hearing cases pending action in the state court, but instead deems that federal courts lack jurisdiction to hear cases already fully decided in state courts. The doctrine is not a judicially created exception to federal jurisdiction. Rather, the Rooker and Feldman cases simply recognized the fact that Congress has not granted the federal district or appeals courts statutory jurisdiction to consider appeals of state court decisions, only the Supreme Court of the United States via a writ of certiorari. It is an open question whether Congress could grant such jurisdiction.

No national rule requires state courts to abstain from hearing cases brought in federal courts or in courts of other states, though the All Writs Act permits federal courts to enjoin state courts from hearing matters if necessary to preserve the jurisdiction of the federal court. But every state has some doctrine that lets its courts stay actions to avoid duplicative litigation. Some states have doctrines that let state courts abstain from hearing cases already pending in other kinds of tribunals. For example, in Gavle v. Little Six, Inc., 555 N. W.2d 284 (Minn. 1996), the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld abstention where the state court might "undermine the authority of the tribal courts over Reservation affairs" or "infringe on the right of Indians to govern themselves".