D. Kourtis, The Development and Application of the International Law of State Immunity, 2025

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

The Quagmire of State Immunity

Disambiguating Three Concepts: Doctrines or Models of State Immunity, Formative Period, Canonical Narrative

A “House with Many Rooms”: Distinguishing State Immunity

Focus Area of the Study

How Does the Idea Develop?

Some Theoretical Clarifications

Structure of the Study

Chapter

A Greek History of Sovereign Immunity

in the Long Nineteenth Century

1.1. Fundamental Rights and State Genesis: Between the Natural and the Positive

1.2. International Legal Subjectivity

1.3. Sovereignty, Territory, Jurisdiction

1.4. The Zappas Affair

1.5. Othon v. Wright

1.6. The Doctrine of Fundamental Rights of States

1.7. Personal Immunities as the Matrix of Sovereign Immunities?

1.8. Immunity qua Extraterritoriality

1.9. Immunity as a Jurisdictional Conflict

1.10. The Domestic and the International

1.11. Early Greek Law and Jurisprudence

1.12. The International Financial Control

Chapter

The Foundations of Sovereign Immunity

2.1. Introducing the Accounts

2.2. Objective and Subjective Regimes of Sovereign Immunity

2.2.1. Par in Parem

2.2.2. The International Dispute Settlement Rule and the Reserved Domain.

2.2.3. A Subjective Aspect

2.3. Reciprocity

2.3.1. A Brief Introduction

2.3.2. A Russian Account: Soviet Doctrine and the 2015 Law

2.3.3. A Greco-Italian Account: Who Owns Thessaly and Epirus?

2.3.4. A Greco-Spanish Account: The Metaxas Regime and the Spanish Civil War Case Law

2.4. Comity

2.4.1. What’s in a Name?

2.4.2. An American Account: The Schooner Exchange

2.4.3. A British Account: The Parlement Belge

2.4.4. Anzilotti’s Account

2.4.5. The Greek Account: Out with Comity, In with Law

2.4.6. The ICJ’s and the ILC’s Final Word

Chapter

The Greek Theory and Praxis in the Formative Period

3.1. Right or Privilege?

3.1.1. Between the Court and the Parliament

3.1.2. A Hohfeldian Interpretation

3.1.3. A Right of Equality

3.1.4. A Retrospective: The Friendly Relations Declaration

3.2. The Emerging Greek Approach

3.2.1. Sovereign Equality and Fundamental Rights

(a) The Argyrokastritis Case

(b) Streit, Kebedgy, and Sovereign Equality

(c) Fundamental Rights of States

(d) Early Codification Efforts

(e) The American Institute of International Law

(f) The Union juridique internationale

(g) The Institut de Droit International

(h) The United Nations

3.2.2. Rejecting the Bifurcation of a Sovereign State’s Personality

(a) The Typaldos Case

(b) The Romanian Attitude in Zappas

(c) Greece before the Mixed Courts of Egypt

(d) The Kildani Case

(e) A Reappraisal

3.3. A Greek Understanding of Sovereign Immunity

3.3.1. Self-Preservation and Abuse of Right

(a) Seferiades

(b) Tenekides, Spriropoulos, Streit

(c) Carabiber

3.3.2. Sovereignty and Consent

(a) The Bastin Case

(b) The Greek Doctrine

3.3.3. Ascending and Descending Justifications

(a) The Brasseur Case

(b) The A-Corporation Case

(c) From Sage to Sauvage and Back Again

Chapter

From the Absolute to the Restrictive Doctrine

of Sovereign Immunity

4.1. The Restrictive Doctrine: A Canonical Narrative

4.2. The Greco-Soviet Cases: Implied Waiver or Acta Jure Gestionis?

4.2.1. The Modality of Implied Waiver

4.2.2. Greece and the Soviet Union

(a) The First Soviet Immunity Case

(b) The Second Soviet Immunity Case

(c) The Normalisation of Denying Immunity

(d) The Council of State and Soviet Immunity

4.3. The Treaties of Peace and the Greco-German Encounter

4.3.1. Germany, the Görlitz “Guests”, and the Treaty of Versailles

(a) The German Position

(b) The Görlitz ”Guest” Case

(c) Article 281 of the Treaty of Versailles

4.3.2. The Greco-German Mixed Arbitral Tribunal and State Immunity

(a) The Post-War Mixed Arbitral Tribunals

(b) The Legal Nature of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunals

(c) The Greco-German Mixed Arbitral Tribunal

4.3.3. The Case Law

(a) The Karmatzucas Case

(b) Subsequent Judgments

(c) The Problem of State Practice

(d) The Salamis Case

4.4. A Reappraisal of the Greek Approach between the Two World Wars

4.4.1 The Courts

4.4.2. The State before its Courts

4.4.3. The Legislator and the Legal System

4.4.4. The Government

Chapter

The Modern Sources of the Law

of State Immunity and the Greek Perspective

5.1. Customary International Law and Domestic Law

5.1.1. Immunity, Practice, and Performativity

5.1.2. Opinio Juris(?)

5.2. Greece’s Attitude

5.2.1. A Rule of Customary International Law

(a) Socobelge

(b) Julius Bär & Cie

(c) La Mercantile

(d) Gamet (I & II)

5.2.2. Greece’s Internal Attitude

(a) Civil Procedural Law

(b) Immunity and the Constitution

5.3. Codification Projects: Intergovernmental Initiatives

5.3.1. The League of Nations

5.3.2. The United Nations

(a) The Greek Position

(b) The First Special Rapporteur and the Greek Praxis

(c) The Second Special Rapporteur and the Greek Voice in the

(d) From the ILC to the UNGA

(e) Immunity as Necessary Evil

(f) The Ad Hoc Committee

5.3.3. The Council of Europe

(a) Setting the Scene

(b) An Overview

(c) Greece’s Participation in the Drafting

Chapter

Exceptions to Sovereign Immunity

under the Restrictive Doctrine

6.1. An Overview of the Greek Approach

6.1.1. Sanctioning L’Etat commerçant

6.1.2. Greek Jurisprudence

6.1.3. Absence of Immunity Statute(s)

6.1.4. Some Positive Developments

6.2. Acta Jure Gestionis or Non-Immune State Transactions

6.2.1. The Proper Criterion

(a) Nature versus Purpose

(b) Form or Type of the Transaction

(c) A Qualified Nature-Based Approach

6.2.2. Markesinis’s Multiple Systems

(a) Actes d’autorité and actes de gestion

(b) Commerciality

(c) Commerciality qua Equality

(d) Procedures of Private Law

(e) Actor-Based Approaches

6.2.3. Defining the “State” in the Law of Immunity

(a) The UNCSI Formula

(b) The Juridical Person of the State

(c) Sub-State Entities

(d) Natural Persons

(e) Separate Entities, Other Agencies, and Instrumentalities of the State

(f) The French and German Approaches

(g) The Greek Approach

6.3. The Nature Test in Greek Praxis

6.3.1. A Matter of Customary International Law

(a) An Overly Cautious Approach

(b) The Romanian Legation Case

6.3.2. Between Nature and Purpose

(a) The Internationalist Approach and the Indirect Effect Doctrine

(b) Legal Forms Redux

(c) Judicial Oscillation

(d) A Combined Approach

6.3.3. The Modern Greek Approach

(a) The Ascendancy of the Lex Fori

(b) The US Visiting Forces’ Immunity Controversy

(c) Governmental Practice (I): The Legal Council of State

(d) Governmental Practice (II): The Question of Nationalisation

Chapter

The Territorial Tort Exception

7.1. Preliminary Issues

7.1.1. The General Understandings

7.1.2. Criminal Proceedings

7.1.3. Activities of the Armed Forces

7.2. The Greek Servicemen Case Law

7.2.1. Applicable Legal Framework

(a) Service Commandé

(b) The Egyptian Position

(c) The Triandafilou Case

(d) The Gaitanos, Orfanidis, and Sarnazos Cases

(e) The Stamatopoulos Case

(f) The Tsoukharis and Gounaris Cases

(g) Purpose and Nature

7.2.2. Immunity from Civil Suit

(a) The Abouteboul Case – Background

(b) Polys Modinos and the Egyptiote Community

(c) The Abouteboul Case – Service Commandé

(d) The Rights of States and the Rights of Individuals

7.3. The Territorial Tort Exception in the Draft Articles

7.3.1. Status of Visiting Forces

7.3.2. ECSI-Related Practice

7.3.3 The First Special Rapporteur

7.3.4. The Second Special Rapporteur

7.3.5. The Greek Approach

7.3.6. The Adoption of the Draft Articles

7.4. The Territorial Tort Exception in Later Stages

7.4.1. The ILC’s Working Group, Jus Cogens, and American Practice.

7.4.2. The Sixth Committee’s Working Group

7.4.3. The Ad Hoc Committee

7.4.4. The Chairman’s Statement to the Sixth Committee

7.4.5. A Proposed Understanding

7.4.6. Military Activities Encompassed by UNCSI

Chapter

The Greek Application of the Restrictive Doctrine

8.1. The State qua Private Person

8.1.1. The “Private Person” Test

8.1.2. Domestic Applications

8.1.3. Greece as a Defendant

8.2. Employment Contracts

8.2.1. The American Visiting Forces Case Law

(a) The British Armed Forces

(b) The USMG

(c) NATO SOFA

(d) The 1956 Bilateral SOFA

(e) The Early Case Law

(f) Restrictive Immunity in Employment and Freelance Disputes

8.2.2. Other Labour Law Disputes

8.3. Sovereign Debt and Sovereign Bonds

8.3.1. The General Framework

8.3.2. The Cases against Argentina

8.3.3. The Greek Sovereign Debt-Related Case Law

(a) Early Practice

(b) The Greek Debt Crisis and the PSI

(c) The Basis for Domestic Litigation

(d) Fahnenbrock and the German Case Law

(e) Kuhn and the Austrian Case Law

8.4. Waiver and Consent

8.4.1. An Overview

(a) Counterclaims

(b) Conditions for Waiving Immunity

(c) The Irrevocability and Comprehensiveness of Waiver

(d) Multilateral Instruments, Consent to Arbitrate, and Implicit Waiver

(e) The ICSID Convention

(d) The New York Convention

8.4.2. Waiver in the Greek Practice

(a) Conditions of Validity

(b) The Approach of Greek International Lawyers

(c) Petrol Shipping Corporation v. Kingdom of Greece

Chapter

Immunity from Enforcement Measures

9.1. An Overview of the Existing Framework

9.1.1. ECSI and UNCSI

9.1.2. The Rule of Untouchable State Property

9.2. The Greek System of Enforcement

9.2.1. The General Characteristics

9.2.2. The Law and Doctrine of Restrictive Immunity from Enforcement

(a) Early Approaches

(b) Subsequent Doctrinal Elaboration

9.2.3. The Three Phases in the Evolution of Article 923 CCP (and Its Analogues)

(a) The Initial Phase (1950s–1960s)

(b) The Normalisation Phase (1970s–1990s)

(c) The Phase of Scrutiny (2000s)

(d) The Distomo Case: Domestic Courts and the Government

(e) The Distomo Case: The Strasbourg Court

(f) The Distomo Case: The Human Rights Committee

(g) The Vlastos v. Iraq Case

(h) A Proposed Interpretation

9.2.4. The IPC and Article 923 CCP

(a) The Distomo Litigation Saga (I): Germany

(b) The Distomo Litigation Saga (II): Italy

(c) The Distomo Litigation Saga (III): The Hague

(d) The Distomo Litigation Saga (IV): Italy Redux

(e) The IPC

(f) A Reappraisal

9.2.5. Waiver of Immunity from Enforcement

(a) Waiver Clauses and the Practice of International Transactions

(b) Waiver Clauses and State Sovereignty

(c) Waiver Clauses and Contestation

(d) Some Examples from Prior Greek Practice

(e) A Few Intermediary Remarks

9.2.6. Waiver Clauses in the First Greek Financial Assistance Agreement

(a) Pre-Crisis Greek Practice

(b) The 2010 LFA and the Ensuing Controversy

(c) A Few Retrospective Observations

(d) Souveraineté Sauvage et Administration Sage

Chapter

Grey Areas: Jus Cogens, Abuse of Rights, and Other Modalities

10.1. Substance and Procedure

10.1.1. Immunities and the Brechtian Dilemma

(a) The ICJ’s Approach

(b) An International Dispute to Be Settled

(c) On the Absoluteness of the Distinction

10.1.2. Equality of States – Hierarchical Inequality of Norms

(a) Limitations

(b) Arguments from the Area of Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction

(c) The “Last Resort” Argument

(d) Legal Reasoning and Direction-of-Fit

10.2. The Distomo Grounds Revisited

10.2.1. Introductory Remarks

(a) Pre-Distomo Judgments

(b) A “Triple Overreach”

(c) The Social Context

10.2.2. “Constructive” Waiver and Relevant Arguments

(a) Siderman and Distomo

(b) The Distomo Ratio Decidendi

(c) The Textual Sources of the Distomo Judgment

(d) International Crimes as Acta Jure Gestionis?

(e) A Critique

10.2.3. Abuse of Right

(a) Some General Observations

(b) The Judgment of the Court of Cassation

(c) Abuse and Normative Hierarchy

(d) The Slippery Slope of Bad Faith

(e) A Critique

10.3. The Margellos Judgment of the Supreme Special Court

10.3.1. The Seisin of the Supreme Special Court

(a) Governmental Ambivalence

(b) Pre-Judgment Doctrinal Debate

10.3.2. The Judgment and its Aftermath

(a) The Reasoning

(b) The Judgment’s Freezing Effect

(c) The Mega Theoxenia Hotel Case

(d) The Ransom of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki Case

10.4. The Reception of Italian Arguments in Greece: The Simoncioni Reasoning and “Judicial Countermeasures”

10.4.1. Between Simoncioni and Ferrini

(a) Greek International Lawyers and the Simoncioni Reasoning

(b) A Simoncioni alla Greca?

(c) Italian War Crimes and the Missed Simoncioni Moment

(d) The IPC Majority Report

10.4.2. “Judicial Countermeasures”

(a) A Tenuous Concept

(b) A Hint for Executive Action

(c) Some Final Remarks

Conclusions

Table of Cases

Permanent Court of International Justice

International Court of Justice

Other International Courts and Tribunals

European Court and Commission of Human Rights

Other Human Rights Bodies

Court of Justice of the European Union

Arbitral Awards

Mixed Arbitral Tribunals

Domestic Courts and Tribunals

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Egypt

France

Germany

Ghana

Greece

India

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

New Zealand

Nigeria

Norway

Philippines

Poland

Russian Federation

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

The Netherlands

Ukraine

United Kingdom

United States

Bibliography

Index of terms