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The Principle of Sovereign Immunity and International Contracts. Recent Developments in English Case-Law and American Legislation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 May 2009
Extract
In the past year, the discussions concerning the theories of immunity have received a fair amount of attention both in the United States as well as in England. The general problem again became of interest in the USA at the time when the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act 1976 came into force on 10 January 1977, the enactment being the result of ten years of legislative work. This piece of legislation, which is important for international contract law, has adopted the principles of the relative immunity theory, after they had already been recognized in 1953 by the “Tate Letter” (see note 23) and were applied shortly thereafter by the Supreme Court. The purpose of the new legislation, which will also have important consequences in respect of the question concerning the immunity from execution, is to bring the problem of immunity, which has until now been governed by international law, within the scope of national law and practice.
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References
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