Doctrine Of Restricted Immunity
Legal Issues
The doctrine of restricted immunity (in brief, it means that a sovereign state may be found liable under a commercial contract in the same way as a private party when the state is engaged in certain commercial activities) affects the validity of certain international commercial contracts, because, depending on the circumstances, we may or may not be able effectively to enforce a contract against a state. See Fawwaz Zedan v Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 849 F2d 1511 (D C Cir 1988). See also Millen Industries Inc v Coordination Council for North American Affairs 855 F2d 879 (D C Cir 1988), which involved the alleged breach of contract, promissory estoppel and misrepresentation brought by an American company against a trade instrumentality of Taiwan; Kuwait Airways Corporation v Iraq Airways Company And Republic Of Iraq [1994] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 276 and Marine Steel Ltd v Government Of The Marshall Islands [1981] 2 NZLR 1.(1)