State Immunity and the Enforcement of Foreign Judgments

What is it about?

The present comment deals with the much-debated issue of the denial of foreign States’ jurisdictional immunity for 'acta iure imperii' resulting in serious violations of human rights. This question came to the fore in Italy in the early 2000s and has since led to a stark contrast between the International Court of Justice, on the one hand, and Italian courts, in particular the Constitutional Court, on the other. Against this backdrop, these pages are aimed at analysing Order No. 39391/2021 of the Italian Corte di Cassazione, which concerns a proceeding for the enforcement of a US judgment condemning Iran to pay damages to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Based on the reasoning of the decision, this comment argues that Italian courts, while praiseworthy for attempting to protect fundamental human rights, seem to have renounced speaking the language of international law.

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Why is it important?

The legal issues addressed in the paper play a crucial role in the international circulation of foreign judgements. They also entail current challenges to the law governing State immunities in the presence of serious violations of human rights.