RESTRICTIVE PRINCIPLE OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY
restrictive principle of sovereign immunity.The doctrine by which a foreign nation’s
immunity does not apply to claims arising from the nation’s private or commercial acts, but
protects the nation only from claims arising from its public functions. See
COMMERCIAL-ACTIVITY EXCEPTION; JURE GESTIONIS; JURE IMPERII . [Cases:
International Law 10.33. C.J.S. International Law §§ 46–48.]
“[T]he [Foreign Sovereign] Immunities Act codified the so-called ‘restrictive’ principle of
sovereign immunity, as recognized in international law. Under this doctrine, the immunity of a
foreign state in the courts of the United States is ‘restricted’ to claims involving the foreign state’s
public acts and does not extend to suits based on its commercial or private conduct.” 14A Charles
Alan Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 3662, at 161–62 (3d ed. 1998).[Blacks Law 8th]