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Butten Gas and Oil Co v Hammer, [1982] AC 888, [1981] 3 All ER 616

Butten Gas and Oil Co v Hammer, [1982] AC 888, [1981] 3 All ER 616


Citation:Butten Gas and Oil Co v Hammer, [1982] AC 888, [1981] 3 All ER 616

Link to case on WorldLII.

Rule of thumb:Can another Government be sued in the UK Courts? No, the Courts in the UK cannot make any valid declaration or order against another the Government of another country. A country’s Government must be sued in their own national Courts.

Judgment:

This case affirmed the principle that ‘an act of state cannot be questioned in a foreign Court’ – it affirmed that no Government can ever be called to appear in the UK Courts accused of breaking the law, and nor would the UK Courts ever approve of the UK Government being asked to appear as a defendant in a Court outside the UK in a foreign country. Any Judgement from any Court outside of the UK against the UK Government has absolutely no legal effect generally speaking.

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Ratio-decidendi:

‘It would not be difficult to elaborate on these considerations, or to perceive other important inter-state issues and/or issues of international law which would face the court. They have only to be stated to compel the conclusion that these are not issues upon which a municipal court can pass. Leaving aside all possibility of embarrassment in our foreign relations (which it can be said not to have been drawn to the attention of the court by the executive) there are – to follow the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals – no judicial or manageable standards by which to judge these issues, or to adopt another phrase (from a passage not quoted), the court would be in a judicial no-man’s land: the court would be asked to review transactions in which four sovereign states were involved, which they had brought to a precarious settlement, after diplomacy and the use of force, and to say that at least part of these were ‘unlawful’ under international law. I would just add, in answer to one of the respondents’ arguments, that it is not to be assumed that these matters have now passed into history, so that they now can be examined with safe detachment ... that the courts will not adjudicate upon the transactions of foreign sovereign states... (is not a matter of discretion but is) ... inherent in the nature of the judicial process’, Lord Wilberforce

Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.