Origin 1897, in Underhill v. Hernandez.
The act of state doctrine is a principle of international and comparative law under which the domestic courts of one country will decline to sit in judgment on the validity of official acts carried out by another sovereign state within that other state's own territory. It entered American jurisprudence through Underhill v. Hernandez (1897), a case arising from the detention of a US citizen in Venezuela by a military commander who had taken control during a revolution, in which the Supreme Court reasoned that every sovereign state is bound to respect the independence of every other sovereign state. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Origin Period1897, in Underhill v. Hernandez. 1 Core PrincipleActs done by a foreign state within its own territory, in the exercise of its own sovereign authority, cannot be challenged or reviewed by the domestic courts of another state. 1 Origin Period
Origin Period (category)19th Century (1800-1899) 1 Classification
Doctrine Category Connections
Associated With
Both US doctrines of judicial abstention/deference to non-judicial branches on foreign or political matters.
A deliberate contrast: Universal Jurisdiction expands a court's reach to prosecute grave crimes regardless of where committed, while Act of State Doctrine limits courts from judging another sovereign's official acts.
In Area Of Law
In Legal System
Rooted in Anglo-American common law, most fully developed in US federal courts since Underhill v. Hernandez (1897).
Source Act of State Doctrine (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Act of State Doctrine (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroduction
The act-of-state doctrine is a principle in international law whereby acts done by a state in its own territory cannot be challenged by the national courts of another state. The doctrine covers legislative action by foreign states and also executive actions relating to state-owned property. As a principle of federal common law in the United States it states, in circumstances where it applies, that courts in the United States will not rule on the validity of another government's (formal) sovereign act with respect to property located within the latter's own territory.
- a principle in international law whereby acts done by a state in its own territory cannot be challenged by the national courts of another state
In Legal System: Public International Law, lead paragraph, states the instrument or body is international
The act-of-state doctrine is a principle in international law whereby acts done by a state in its own territory cannot be challenged by the national courts of another state.
In Group: Doctrines of Public International Law, Introduction, sentence 1
The act-of-state doctrine is a principle in international law whereby acts done by a state in its own territory cannot be challenged by the national courts of another state.
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