Functions of State Officials and the Restrictive Rule of State Immunity

Abstract

This paper pursues an aspect of the law of state immunity about which some uncertainty continues to exist. The author refers to the question of the scope of the immunity from civil proceedings in the national courts of other countries which an official of a foreign State enjoys when acting in the course of official functions. On leaving office the personal immunity of such high-ranking officials based on status ceases, and functional immunity alone remains. As regards the threesome of head of State, head of government and minister for foreign affairs, provided their acts were performed in the exercise of their functions, they enjoy during the period of their office a greater immunity than the State. The 2004 UN Convention on the Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property establishes a restrictive rule of immunity; eleven of the thirty ratifications necessary to bring it into force have now been lodged. Keywords:functional immunity; head of government; head of State; Jurisdictional Immunities of States; minister for foreign affairs; personal immunity; restrictive rule; state immunity; state officials