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Immunity of the rulers of the Gulf States from
the jurisdiction of foreign courts
THE PROBLEM OF JURISDICTIONAL IMMUNITIES OF
PROTECTED STATES
The problem of the immunity of protected States and of their rulers
from the jurisdiction of foreign courts arises from the generally
accepted rule in international law that sovereigns and governments of
independent States are entitled to jurisdictional immunities before
foreign courts.1 The question is whether semi-sovereign, or not fully
independent, States are, on the same footing as independent States,
entitled to immunity from the jurisdiction of foreign courts.
It seems that in practice the extent to which a State grants immunity
from jurisdiction before its courts to rulers and governments of
States under its protection is a matter of its own municipal law.
Therefore, the question of granting immunity to such States is
usually settled by a certificate issued by the executive; and the courts
before which claims of immunity are put by such States generally re
gard the certificate as conclusive. But does this practice of granting
immunity to not fully independent States indicate that there is a rule
of international law to this effect?
(a) Position of British Protected States before British courts
It is clear from a number of decisions of English courts that these
courts have constantly granted absolute immunity from their jurisdic
tion to rulers and governments of British protected States. However,
it seems that English courts have acted in all, or the majority of, those
cases on the advice of the authorities of the Crown, and thus treated
the certificate received from those authorities as conclusive evidence
regarding the immunity of the protected States concerned.2 Lord
McNair explains the principle upon which British protected States
are granted jurisdictional immunities before British courts by saying
lOppcnheim, p. 272; Moore, A Digest of International Law, vol. II (1906),
pp. 558-9; Hyde, 1, p. 813. And seeLe Parlement Beige (1880), 5 P.D. 197.
2 For examples of granting jurisdictional immunities to rulers and governments
of British protected States before British courts, sec the following cases: Mighell v.
Sultan ofJohorc [1894] 1 Q.B. 149; Duff Development v. Government ofKelantan and
Others [1924] A.C. 797; Sayce v. Ameer Ruler Sadiq Mohammed Abbasi Baha-
walpur State [1952] 2 Q.B. 390; Sultan of Johore v. Abubakar Tunku Aris Bcndahara
and Others [1952] A.C. 318.
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