Reflections on the Substance of Finality

Abstract

As Professor Burbank says, there is a good case for the proposition that the Enabling Act' does not embrace the subject of resjudicata. From this proposition he concludes that the subject of res judicata must be embraced by the Rules of Decision Act, except of course to the extent that in specific contexts the matter of res judicata may be embraced by federal statute. Aside from such exceptions, so Professor Burbank's argument goes, since the Rules of Decision Act calls generally for state law "rules of decision," it follows that state law governs the res judicata effect of a federal judgment in an action wherein a federal court has adjudicated rights based on state law.