STATE IMMUNITY ACT 1978

State Immunity Act 1978

State Immunity Act 1978

Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to make an analysis on the statement that sovereign states cannot be sued. This paper discusses that the Courts of England are open to the whole world. In particular, the possession of foreign nationality is no bar to being a claimant or a defendant. This paper discusses this phenomenon with reference to State Immunity Act 1978.

Discussion

The United Kingdom has long afforded foreign sovereigns immunity from suit in its courts. As early as 1812, in The Schooner Exchange v McFaddon,' Chief Justice Marshall recognized the concept of foreign sovereign immunity, explaining that it arose from the “common interest impelling [sovereign states] to mutual intercourse, and an interchange of good offices with each other.” Today, U.K. corporations and citizens routinely transact with a wide variety of foreign corporate entities: some fully private, some fully state-owned, and many others somewhere in the middle caught between post-socialist economic privatization and lingering fears of free market competition. Unfortunately, current formulations of U.K. foreign sovereign immunity law provide neither the predictability to deal with modern transnational disputes nor the protections needed to encourage foreign governments to do business with U.K. corporations and by the rulings of U.K. courts.

When English Courts Can Exercise Jurisdiction Over A State/State Entity

The English courts can exercise jurisdictions over a state/ state entity while solving the state immunity courts problems and while doing this they can create differences between the state immunity from enforcement measures and jurisdiction. The term of immunity from jurisdictions can be normally termed as constraint on Forum State in order to implement jurisdiction over a foreign state.

The main principle on the concept that when English courts can exercise jurisdictions over a state is that state normally does not apply the immunity from the jurisdictions in all the cases which involve the sovereign activities. Entities are considered to be the immune from jurisdictions under the UK state Immunity Act, if its proceedings involve the implementation of sovereign authority.

State Immunity Act 1978

The British law of foreign sovereign immunity is governed by the State Immunity Act 1987 (“SIA”), which codifies both the principle of sovereign immunity and several exceptions to immunity. In determining the availability of sovereign immunity under the SIA, courts face two related difficulties. First, issue of immunity must be determined as a preliminary matter, because federal jurisdiction over foreign sovereigns exists only when there is a statutory exception to immunity. Second, because of the ambiguity of the SIA and the factual complexities of many challenges to SIA immunity, courts often must conduct significant fact-finding prior to determining immunity. Herein lays the paradox. To determine whether the defendant is immune from suit, the court must permit some discovery. This initial discovery, however, may violate the immunity of the foreign sovereign. On the one hand, a strict limitation on discovery may hinder the plaintiff's ability to pursue relief for the tortuous and commercial actions of a foreign ...