Edward Chukwuemeke Okeke, Jurisdictional Immunities of States and International Organizations
- PDF / 471,268 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 89 Downloads / 182 Views
Edward Chukwuemeke Okeke, Jurisdictional Immunities of States and International Organizations Oxford University Press, New York 2018, xvi + 392 pp. ISBN 9780190611231 Mark Weston Janis1,2
© T.M.C. Asser Press 2020
Edward Chukwuemeke Okeke is a distinguished international lawyer who has served in legal advisory departments at the World Bank, UNESCO, and the United Nations. His new book, Jurisdictional Immunities of States and International Organizations, is a helpful contribution to the literature of international law. Mr. Okeke sets out the purpose of the book at the outset: ‘If you want a vade mecum on the law and practice of jurisdictional immunities of States and international organizations, this is the book’ (p. 1). Of all of the eleven parts of this book (an introduction and ten chapters), perhaps the best-crafted is the ‘Introduction’, which explores the scope of the work and sets out the field’s basic concepts. The book is about jurisdictional immunities of States and international organizations and does not cover either immunities of heads of States or diplomats, or immunities from execution and enforcement (pp. 2–3). The author defines his subject: ‘Jurisdictional immunity, also known as immunity from legal or judicial process, bars a national court from subjecting certain legal persons to judicial process or adjudicating their legal relations’ (p. 4). A grant of immunity is not substantive, but ‘a procedural bar on national courts’ power to determine rights’ (p. 5). ‘Jurisdictional immunity is a rule of international law that operates on the national plane’ (p. 7). However, there is no treaty, except the European Convention on State Immunity, that governs the topic (p. 8). ‘[F]oreign States are generally immune from jurisdiction of forum States, with some common exceptions, such as commercial activities’ (p. 9). As for international organizations, their immunity ‘is founded on the principles that all member States are equal, and the organizations and their officials shall be independent from the Member States in the fulfillment of [their] functions’ (p. 11). There is an elementary explanation of basic international * Mark Weston Janis [email protected] 1
University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, USA
2
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
123Vol.:(0123456789)
M. W. Janis
law concepts. For example, it partly relies on the 1981 4th edition of Von Glahn’s Law Among Nations, an undergraduate text with many subsequent editions, for some of its general background (p. 8). Generally, a better job could have been done putting jurisdictional immunity into the greater context of the discipline. Otherwise, I know of no better concise rendition of the topic. The first four chapters make up Part I and concern ‘State Immunity’. Chapter 1 looks at ‘Historical Development and Rationale’. Here, the author relies largely on the case law of the United States and the United Kingdom, beginning in 1812 with US Chief Justice Marshall in The Schooner Exchange. The judgment ‘is heralded as the provenance of classical doct
Data Loading...
