State immunity
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An “International Crime” Exception to the Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction: Not Currently, Not Likely Open
The happiest outcomes of the work of the International Law Commission (ILC) result when those charged with reporting on a topic elucidate the existing law with maximum objectivity and accuracy and when, where desired, they formulate such p…
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The Immunity of Heads of States of Nonparties in the Early Years of the ICC Open
More than any other international criminal tribunal, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has, in its early years, pursued cases against heads of state. The Court issued arrest warrants for President Omar al Bashir of Sudan and for Muamm…
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Territorial Tort Exception? The Ukrainian Supreme Court Held that the Russian Federation Could Not Plead Immunity with regard to Tort Claims Brought by the Victims of the Russia-Ukraine War Open
The jurisdictional immunity of a state means that the state cannot be involved as a defendant in a case considered by a foreign court. In Ukraine, the rule on the jurisdictional immunity of a foreign state is enshrined in Art. 79 of the La…
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Civil actions for damages caused by war crimes vs. State immunity from jurisdiction and the political act doctrine: ECtHR, ICJ and Italian courts Open
Publication in the conference proceedings of EUSIPCO, Trieste, Italy, 1996
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How Broad is the Principle Upheld by the Italian Constitutional Court in Judgment No. 238? Open
The present article discusses the breadth of the principle upheld by the Italian Constitutional Court in Judgment No. 238 of 2014, concerning the unconstitutionality of grants of foreign state immunity over international crimes and compara…
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On the Existence of a Customary Rule Granting Functional Immunity to State Officials and Its Exceptions: Back to Square One Open
L'articolo rimette in discussione l'esistenza di una norma generale che conferisce un'immunità di carattere funzionale a tutti gli organi di Stato, e attraverso la giurisprudenza e la prassi ricostruisce una visione alternativa, anche per …
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No Functional Immunity for Crimes under International Law before Foreign Domestic Courts Open
For some time now, there seemed to be consensus that functional immunity does not protect (former) state officials from criminal prosecution by foreign domestic courts in cases where they are suspected of having committed or participated i…
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State Immunity, Between Past and Future Open
Background: State immunity, a subject rarely encountered in the East, is being brought to light more and more often lately. In the process of being detached from customary law, it has been subject to several attempts at codification. These…
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Putin on Trial: The Reality of Heads of State Immunity before International Criminal Courts Open
The prosecution of serving heads of state before international criminal courts is still very challenging even though most of these courts do not recognise immunities for international crimes. While the recognition of head of state immunity…
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The Law of State Immunity before the Brazilian Supreme Court: what is at stake with the “Changri-La” case? Open
It was 1943 when the Changri-La fishing boat and its ten fishermen crew disappeared near Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro. But only in 2001 the Tribunal Marítimo da Marinha do Brasil recognized that the vessel had been sunk by a German submarine.…
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A Fresh Start: How to Resolve the Conflict between the ICJ and the Italian Constitutional Court Open
First commentators on the Italian Constitutional Court’s decision no. 238 of 2014 have pointed out its conflict with the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s judgment of 3 February 2012, Germany v. Italy, and the regime collision between…
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Malaysia and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Open
Through its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has received support and opposition from many countries. Despite working toward universal ratification or accession to the Rome Stat…
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State Immunity and Victims’ Rights to Access to Court, Reparation, and the Truth Open
Recently municipal courts have found that foreign states do not enjoy jurisdictional immunity with respect to civil claims involving serious violations of international law within the forum state’s territory during armed conflict. This art…
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Using a Shield as a Sword: Are International Organizations Abusing Their Immunity? Open
The starting point for this paper is that IOs are as subjects of international law. Since IOs do not control territory or a population and so always operate within the jurisdiction of one of their member states, they are vulnerable to inte…
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State immunity as a tool of foreign policy : the unanswered question of certain Iranian assets Open
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act contains a number of “exceptions” to state immunity that are unique to the US legal system. This issue came before the International Court of Justice in Certain Iranian Assets, where Iran submitted that…
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The Limitations and Exceptions to Immunity of States Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction: On ILC Draft Article 7 Open
The International Law Commission (ILC) temporarily adopted Draft Article 7 on immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, listing six international crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity that state official…
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State Immunity and the Execution of Investment Arbitration Awards Open
The doctrine of state immunity occupies a fundamental place in international law. The application of the doctrine, largely left to the national laws of states, is not consistent. One particular area of inconsistency is the treatment of the…
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Immunities And Arbitration: A New Lex Specialis Regime Open
The interaction between immunities and jurisdiction is complex. One lacuna is whether the international legal principle of state immunity is a rule or principle in its own right or an exception to a pre-existing jurisdiction. In the contex…
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Acts of State, State Immunity, and Judicial Review in the United States Open
The doctrine of the Act of State and State Immunity has its foundation in common law frameworks. It is settled law that there is no cause of action that will make a foreign state liable in the domestic court of another country. In the Unit…
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International Decision: Prosecutor v. Al-Bashir, ICC-02/05-01/09-302, Decision Under Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute on the Non-Compliance by South Africa with the Request by the Court for the Arrest and Surrender of Omar Al-Bashir Open
This case note considers a July 2017 decision of Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) which held that South Africa breached its Rome Statute of the ICC (1998) (“Rome Statute”) obligations when it did not arrest …
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State Immunity and Serious Violations of Human Rights: Judgment No. 238 of 2014 of the Italian Constitutional Court Seven Years on Open
On 3 February 2021, the US Supreme Court affirmed the icj ’s Jurisdictional Immunities of the State Judgment of 2012—according to which “a State is not deprived of immunity by reason of the fact that it is accused of serious violations of …
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Reconciling State Immunity with Remedies for War Victims in a Legal Pluriverse Open
The chapter explains the threefold aspiration of the book as an academic, societal, and diplomatic project. It introduces the three interwoven themes of international law arising in the German-Italian saga: state immunity, reparation for s…
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The Judgment of the Italian Constitutional Court on State Immunity in Cases of Serious Violations of Human Rights or Humanitarian Law: A Tentative Analysis under International Law Open
"The Judgment of the Italian Constitutional Court on State Immunity in Cases of Serious Violations of Human Rights or Humanitarian Law: A Tentative Analysis under International Law" published on 01 Jan 2017 by Brill | Nijhoff.
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The Entitlement of a State to Jurisdictional Immunity under International Law Open
The article shows that the state immunity from the authority of another state, including the judicial, with various theoretical estimates, should be considered under the designated regulatory format as a principle of international law refl…
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A European Way to Approach (and Limit) the Law on State Immunity? The Court of Justice in the RINA Case Open
The present Insight offers an analysis of the judgment of the Court of Justice in the so-called RINA case (judgment of 7 May 2020, case C-641/18, LG and Others v. Rina and Ente Registro Navale), which deals with the (non) automatic extensi…
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THE OBLIGATION TO PROSECUTE HEADS OF STATE UNDER THE ROME STATUTE OF THE INTERNATONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) AND CUSTOMARY INTERNATIONAL LAW: THE AFRICAN AND U.S. PERSPECTIVES Open
The United States (US), a Signatory, but not a State Party, to the Rome Statute, entered into various Bilateral Agreements (BIAs) with almost all Rome Statute State Parties prohibiting the arrest, surrender, or prosecution of the U.S. Head…
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Recent Developments of International Law Commission Work on Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction Open
Immunity is a well bedded concept within international law and mainly within the principle of sovereign equality of states. There are different procedural implications of the concept of immunity – diplomatic and consular privileges and imm…
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Immunity of international organisations against state immunity: Selected legal problems Open
The aim of the study was to answer the question whether there are universal norms of customary international law governing the immunity of international organisations and their property and address the obstacles to the development of the U…
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Immunity Rights Problems before the ICC: Between the 1961 Vienna Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute Open
Introduction to The Problem: The right to immunity in international law is a privilege granted to Diplomatic Officers in the context of carrying out missions, in particular, representing the state. The immunity rights of a Diplomatic Offic…
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Head of State, Head of Goverment and Foreign Ministers Immunity in International Law Open
In international law, a head of state has state immunity and diplomatic immunity that prevented him tried by national courts of other states. The obtained immunity to heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers because of the…