The I Congreso Del Partido - House of Lords (Lord Wilberforce, Lord Diplock, Lord Edmund-Davies, Lord Keith of Kinkel and Lord Bridge) - 30 July 1981

Sovereign immunity - Government owned ship - How “restrictive” doctrine to be applied

The issues in this case concerned the scope of the “restrictive” doctrine of state immunity. Briefly, this doctrine is that when a sovereign or state is impleaded as a defendant it cannot claim state immunity as regards commercial or trading transactions. The House was broadly unanimous on the question of law involved, but split 3_2 on the application of the law to the facts relating to one of the two vessels involved in the case.