City Research Online

Abstract

This article examines the recent UK Supreme Court case of US v Nolan concerning the rights of a dismissed civilian employee of a US military facility in England. It sets out a summary of the court’s findings on European law and ultra vires. It considers the public international law aspects of the appeal and asks if the court’s acceptance that a pleaof state immunity is procedural (and does not therefore affect the state’s underlying duty or obligation) means that the UK approach to the relationship between immunity and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (access to justice) needs to be re-examined. The UK courts have hitherto heldthat Article 6 is not automatically engaged by a plea of immunity on the basis that such a plea deprives the court of substantive jurisdiction so there can be no denial of access as access does not exist in the first place. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has consistently maintained the opposite view and Nolan may have an impact on appeals touching on this issue pending before the Supreme Court.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Reece Thomas, K (2016). The UK Supreme Court's latest look at State Immunity. Journal of International and Comparative Law, 3:1, 149-161
Publisher Keywords:	International law and state immunity; nature of a plea of state immunity; access to justice and state immunity; Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights; 2004 United Nations Convention on the Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property; employment rights and immunity
Subjects:	K Law > KD England and Wales
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > International Law and Affairs Group
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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