The United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property, which as of 2024[update] is not yet in force, would re-formulate and harmonise the rules and their exceptions.
In 1938, Lord Atkin observed in the House of Lords, the highest court at the time in the United Kingdom, the following: The courts of a country will not impede a foreign sovereign, that is, they will not by their process make him against his will a party to legal proceedings whether the proceedings involve process against his person or seek to recover from him specific property or damages.
[citation needed] On 3 February 2012, in the case of Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening,[6] the International Court of Justice ruled by a majority of 12 to 3 that all attempts by domestic courts, forums and tribunals attempting to supranationally apply jus cogens relating to international humanitarian law are overridden by state immunity.
The 1812 U.S. Supreme Court decision The Schooner Exchange v. M'Faddon interpreted customary international law to bar a ship owner from suing to regain a vessel seized by the government of France, which had docked for repairs in Philadelphia.
The 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act generally bars suits against foreign governments, except in cases where state immunity is waived; in certain admiralty claims; or in claims involving commercial activity, a tort inside the United States involving death, personal injury, or damage to or loss of property (such as a traffic collision), or expropriation of property in violation of international law.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 added exceptions for torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, and hostage-taking.
[8] Six of those (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland) also are parties to its Additional Protocol, that establishes the European Tribunal in matters of State Immunity.