Privae International Law .pptVIP

Jurisdiction 3: Limits on JurisdictionChoice of Law 1: Basic Methodology and Proving Foreign Law Private International Law 4 May 11, 2009 Limitations on Jurisdiction Much of the limits on jurisdiction is related to the limits states have to exercise sovereign power Limit 1: State Immunity Limit 2: Treaty Defined Limits Limit 3: Rules of Exclusive Jurisdiction State Immunity and Limitations on Jurisdiction Here, public and private international law collide See ILC’s Draft Articles on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (1991) and Canada’s State Immunity Act Generally, a state is immune to the jurisdiction of another state’s courts unless the state agreed to the jurisdiction or if the matter is of a commercial nature State Immunity and Limitations on Jurisdiction there may also be no immunity if the foreign state caused injury to a person and the injury happened in the state seeking jurisdiction In Schreiber v Canada ([2002] 3 SCR 269) The plaintiff was arrested at the request of the German government for extradition. The plaintiff sued for injury due to wrongful arrest, but the court found that there must be a physical injury, not merely mental anguish and deprivation of liberty, in order to set aside state immunity In Bouzari v Iran ((2004) 71 O.R. (3d) 675 (CA)) The applicant, now resident in Canada, had been tortured by Iranian agents in Iran over his business dealing with the Iranian government. The court found that state immunity prevented the court from taking jurisdiction since the torture occurred in Iran, not in Canada Treaty Defined Limits on Jurisdiction There are many treaties which limit the jurisdiction of member states’ courts in cases where the rules of jurisdiction would allow for multiple trials The 1933 Warsaw Convention and the 2003 Montreal Convention limit the liability of international air carriers The 1974 Athens Convention limits the liability of international sea carriers The 1958 New York Convention requires courts m