Commercial Activities

China Adopts Restrictive Theory of Foreign State Immunity

On September 1, 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Foreign State Immunity Law of the People’s Republic of China (FSIL) (English translation here). When the law enters into force on January 1, 2024, China will join those countries—a clear majority—that have adopted the restrictive theory of foreign state immunity. For…

Continue Reading

China’s Draft Law on Foreign State Immunity—Part II

In December 2022, Chinese lawmakers published a draft law on foreign state immunity, an English translation of which is now available. In a prior post, I looked at the draft law’s provisions on immunity from suit. I explained that the law would adopt the restrictive theory of foreign state immunity, bringing China’s position into alignment…

Continue Reading

China’s Draft Law on Foreign State Immunity Would Adopt Restrictive Theory

On the question of foreign state immunity, the world was long divided between countries that adhere to an absolute theory and those that adopted a restrictive theory. Under the absolute theory, states are absolutely immune from suit in the courts of other states. Under the restrictive theory, states are immune from suits based on their…

Continue Reading

Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Vanderbilt Law School
ingrid.wuerth@vanderbilt.eduEmail

William Dodge

UC Davis School of Law
wsdodge@ucdavis.eduEmail

Maggie Gardner

Cornell Law School
mgardner@cornell.eduEmail

John F. Coyle

University of North Carolina School of Law
jfcoyle@email.unc.eduEmail

Zachary D. Clopton

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
zclopton@law.northwestern.eduEmail

Melissa Kucinski

MKFL
Bio | Posts

Cara Maines

NYU School of Law
Bio | Posts

Andrew J. Coyner

Vanderbilt Law School
Bio | Posts

Marc Tiernan

University of Amsterdam
Bio | Posts

Poppy Alexander

Constantine Cannon
Bio | Posts

Kelly Adams

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
Bio | Posts

Ben Köhler

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
Bio | Posts