Law Commons^™

Confusion Over Sovereign Immunity : What Is Article Ii, Section 18 About?, Anthony Johnstone

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

Sovereign and personal immunities are a complex inheritance of both constitutional and common law. Article II, Section 18 of the Montana Constitution concerns only one strand of sovereign immunity doctrine, the tort liability of the state. Although there may be good arguments in law and justice for abolition, federal and state courts have long established the sovereign and personal immunities that were untouched by the state constitutional waiver of tort liability immunity.