system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 What would happened to someone if they signed a legally binding contract in one country and breached the terms by escaping to another? Can you be sued internationally for breach of contract?
gpt
"Can you be sued" creates a lot of confusion here. 

In one sense, they obviously can. You are in fact legally liable for your debts under the contract (or whatever it is you owe) even if you leave. The creditor can sue you in a court with the correct jurisdiction (either specified in the contract, or else governed by where you are/live or where the contract is performed. The rules of jurisdiction are well established.). 

In a second sense, it depends if they "can" sue you because there are practical realities that involve more than just filing some papers in a court. The plaintiff would have to either locate you to serve you the complaint (which is hard if you're in hiding abroad) or else meet other criteria - some places let you sue someone if you publicize the lawsuit in newspapers where they are expected to be, some places let you serve family if you can establish they're in touch, etc. But generally, to sue a person, you more or less have to locate them so you can serve them papers. And even if you do that, if they're in a country that doesn't want to enforce your lawsuit, they won't. If they escape to Somalia, and Somalia's court system just doesn't feel like finding them and handling the suit for you, there's not much you can do. You could probably find a way to get a so-called "default judgment" at home: meaning, you properly notified them of the lawsuit but they never showed up, which means you win. But then you'd have to collect from them, which would be difficult if they don't have property in the country you're in. (If they do, the court can order the police to seize it for you). Some foreign countries will enforce this judgment against the debtor; some won't, and it's rarely a high priority anyway. 

To sum up, you can get away with this the same way you can get away with a crime, but you can't make it disappear.