| 释义 |
act of state
An act, often involving force, of the executive of a state, or committed by an agent of a sovereign power with its prior approval or subsequent ratification, that affects adversely a person who does not owe allegiance to that power. The courts have power to decide whether or not particular conduct constitutes such an act, but if it does, they have no jurisdiction to award any remedy. The so-called act of state doctrine holds that, in the absence of a treaty, the courts of no state can question the validity or legality of the acts of state of another sovereign state or of its agents. If such questioning is thought necessary, it is to be confined to diplomatic channels. The classic statement of this doctrine is that made by Chief Justice Fuller in the decision of the US Supreme Court in Underhill v Hernandez 168 US 250, 252 (1897). A good English example of the application of the doctrine can be found in Buttes Gas and Oil Co v Hammer [1982] AC 888, in which the House of Lords held that issues relating to the sovereignty of a foreign state over territory, the extent of its territorial sea, and its continental shelf jurisdiction were inherently non-justiciable in the municipal courts of the United Kingdom. The modern law on this doctrine has severely curtailed the number of acts that can be included within its compass. Recent important Supreme Court decisions include Rahimatullah (No. 2) v MOD [2017] UKSC 1, [2017] AC 649; Al-Waheed and Serar Mohammed v MOD [2017] UKSC 2, [2017] 2 WLR 327; and especially Belhaj v Straw [2017] UKSC 3, [2017] AC 964, all of which demonstrate a new legal activism in closely examining the doctrine and the extent to which it is relied upon by Her Majesty’s Government. See sovereign immunity. |