Case No. 1231 [2003

Abstract

Case No. 1231 [2003]. 1416 Saibansho JIHŌ 6. At <http://www.courts.go.jp>.Saikō Saibansho (Supreme Court of Japan), July 21, 2006.In a decision issued on July 21, 2006, a five-justice panel of the Supreme Court of Japan effectively overturned seventy-eight years of Japanese jurisprudence on foreign sovereign immunity. The holding in Case No. 1231 [2003] serves to limit the ability of foreign governmenrs to claim immunity from the civil jurisdiction of Japanese courts in cases involving commercial and other activities not of a sovereign character.The case came before the Supreme Court as an appeal from a decision of the Tokyo High Court. The two companies bringing the appeal had sued Pakistan for the nonpayment of amounts owing under a contract entered into between appellants and another company for the purchase of computer equipment.3 Appellants argued that the company purchasing the computers was connected to the Pakistani defense ministry and was therefore an agent of the Pakstani government. Pakistan claimed that it was immune from suit under the doctrine of foreign sovereign immunity. It also denied that the contracting company was its agent.