Of Plumbers and Social Architects: Elements and Problems of the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in Jurisdictional Immunities of States

Forthcoming, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, vol. 4, issue 3 (2013)

17 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2013

See all articles by Carlos Espósito

Carlos Espósito

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM)

Date Written: August 8, 2013

Abstract

This analysis of the judgment of the International Court of Justice in the Jurisdictional Immunities case is conducted in two parts. The first briefly presents the basic elements of the judgment of the Court in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v Italy: Greece intervening); the second part identifies and discusses some problems raised by the judgment. These include the legal character of the rule of state immunity, the limits of the positivist methodology to establish state practice as evidence of customary international law and its exceptions, and the troubles with a strictly procedural approach to consider a possible exception to immunity for serious violations of international law and international humanitarian law. The comment concludes with a brief general assessment of the judgment of the Court, its role and the future development of the law of state immunities by national courts.

Keywords: International Court of Justice, state immunity, immunity from jurisdiction, immunity from measures of constraint, jus cogens, human rights, national judges

Suggested Citation

Espósito, Carlos, Of Plumbers and Social Architects: Elements and Problems of the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in Jurisdictional Immunities of States (August 8, 2013). Forthcoming, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, vol. 4, issue 3 (2013), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2307688

Carlos Espósito (Contact Author)

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) ( email )

Faculty of Law
Madrid, 28049
Spain

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