ACT-OF-STATE DOCTRINE

act-of-state doctrine.Int’l law. The principle that no nation can judge the legality of a foreign

country’s sovereign acts within its own territory. • As originally formulated by the U.S. Supreme

Court in 1897, the doctrine provides that “the courts of one country will not sit in judgment on the

acts of the government of another done within its own territory.” Underhill v. Hernandez, 168 U.S.

250,  252,  18  S.Ct. 83,  84  (1897). The  Supreme  Court  later  declared  that  though  the  act-of-state

doctrine  is  compelled  by  neither  international  law  nor  the  Constitution,  it  has  “institutional

underpinnings.”  Banco  Nacional  de  Cuba  v.  Sabbatino,  376  U.S.  398,  423,  84  S.Ct.  923,  937

(1964). [Cases: International Law    10.9. C.J.S. International Law § 34.] [Blacks Law 8th]