ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Forum non conveniens

Okay kiddo, have you ever been playing a game with your friends and one of your friends doesn't want to play anymore? They might say, "I don't want to play this game anymore, let's play a different one." That's kind of like what forum non conveniens means.

You see, sometimes when two people or companies have a disagreement, they might want to go to court to get it settled. But sometimes, it's not fair to make one person or company go to court in a certain place. For example, let's say you live in America and your friend lives in Japan. If you and your friend had a disagreement and had to go to court, it wouldn't be fair to make one of you travel all the way across the world to go to court in the other person's country. That's where forum non conveniens comes in.

Forum non conveniens means that if it's not fair to have a trial in one place, the court might say that the trial should be held somewhere else that's more fair for everyone. So if you and your friend had a disagreement and you both lived in different countries, the court might say that you have to have the trial in a different country that's more fair for both of you.

Overall, forum non conveniens is just a fancy way of saying that sometimes when there is a disagreement and it's not fair to have a trial in one place, the court might say that the trial should be held somewhere else.