<em> Forum non conveniens</em> in Australia-how much weight should be given to comity?

<p>A historical tracing suggested that the concept of comity has its root from public international law. In modern days, it forms a rationale underpinning the doctrine of forum non conveniens in private international law. However, Australia has rejected a popular formulation of the ‘more appropriate forum’ test used in England and other common law jurisdictions and instead decided to adopt a more stringent test of ‘clearly inappropriate forum’. To what extent is this version of the forum non conveniens doctrine in compatible with the comity concept? It is argued that the courts in Australia largely pay lip service to the comity concept in their consideration.</p>