A series of three lectures by
Sir Christopher Greenwood CMG, QC
Judge, International Court of Justice.
The Sir Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lecture is a series of annual lectures given in Cambridge to commemorate the unique contribution to the development of international law of Sir Hersch Lauterpacht. The lectures are given by a person of eminence in the field of international law and a revised and expanded version of the lectures is usually published in the Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lecture Series by Cambridge University Press.
Lecture Summary:
These three lectures will examine selected aspects of the law of sovereign (or State) immunity. They are not intended to be a comprehensive treatment of this area of international law but, rather, a discussion of some of the more difficult issues which arise in relation to sovereign immunity today.
Lecture 1: Sovereignty, Sovereign Equality and Sovereign Immunity
This lecture will begin by considering the nature and origins of the concept of sovereign immunity. Is sovereign immunity a necessary concomitant of sovereignty itself? Is sovereign immunity is a matter of international law at all. Does international law place each State under a legal obligation to accord other States immunity from the jurisdiction of its courts? Or is sovereign immunity only a matter of comity (as suggested by the United States Supreme Court in Republic of Austria v. Altmann (2004) 147 ILR 681)? What is the relationship between international law and national law in relation to sovereign immunity, particularly in those States, such as the UK and USA, in which immunity is largely governed by statute ?
The lecture will then consider what purpose sovereign immunity serves today. Was Sir Hersch Lauterpacht's prediction (in his 1951 article in the British Year Book of International Law) that immunity would wither on the vine accurate ?
Finally, the lecture will examine the position of sovereign immunity in relation to norms of jus cogens and human rights in the light of recent developments such as the judgment of the International Court of Justice in Jurisdictional Immunities (Germany v. Italy), I.C.J. Reports 2012-I, p. 99).
Lecture 2: Sovereign Immunity and the Sovereign's Servants
Lecture 3: Jurisdiction and Justiciability
Sir Christopher Greenwood, CMG, QC, was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in both parts of the Law Tripos (1975 and 1976) and the Ll.B (International Law) (1977) and was President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1976. He was Whewell Scholar in 1977 and was elected a Fellow of Magdalene College in 1978. From 1978 to 1996 he taught law at Cambridge. He became Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics in 1996.
Called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1978, he practised in the field of international law before the English and international courts, becoming a QC in 1999 and a Bencher of Middle Temple in 2003. Many of his appearances in court were in cases concerned with sovereign immunity; these included Pinochet, Holland v. Lampen-Wolfe, Kuwait Airways and Jones v. Saudi Arabia in the House of Lords. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 2002 and was knighted in 2009 for services to public international law.
Since 2009 he has been a Judge of the International Court of Justice.
Hersch Lauterpacht Memorial Lectures 2015: Monday, 19th January - Wednesday, 21st January 2015
Q&A Session: Thursday 22nd January 2015
Speaker: Sir Christopher Greenwood, CMG, QC, Judge, International Court of Justice
Dates: Lecture 1: Monday 19th January 2015
Time: 5.30 p.m.
Venue: Finley Library, Lauterpacht Centre, 5 Cranmer Rd, Cambridge
If you would like to be notified by email about forthcoming lectures and events, please contact admin@lcil.cam.ac.uk.
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