A series of three lectures by
Sir Christopher Greenwood CMG, QC
Judge, International Court of Justice
The Sir Hersch Lauterpacht 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 3: Jurisdiction and Justiciability
The final lecture will examine the relationship between sovereign immunity and various other doctrines which preclude a court from ruling upon the legality of a State's conduct. In this context, the lecture will consider the doctrines of act of foreign State in many common law jurisdictions, the concept of non-justiciability set forth by Lord Wilberforce in Buttes Gas v. Hammer (No. 2) ((1981) 64 ILR 331). Are these doctrines purely matters of national law concerned with the relationship between the courts and the executive or do they protect the same interests as sovereign immunity? Have recent decisions such as Kuwait Airways ((2002) 125 ILR 602), Belhaj and Rahmatullah (both decided in 2014 and not yet reported) marked the end of these doctrines in England and elsewhere? Is there a parallel between the act of foreign State doctrine in national law and the principle applied by the International Court of Justice in Monetary Gold (Italy v. France, United Kingdom and United States), I.C.J. Reports 1954, p. 19; 21 ILR 399 and East Timor (Portugal v. Australia), I.C.J. Reports 1995, p. 90; 105 ILR 226.
Lecture 1: Sovereignty, Sovereign Equality and Sovereign Immunity >>
Lecture 2: Sovereign Immunity and the Sovereign's Servants >>
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 3: Wednesday 21st 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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