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Sovereign Immunity In Perspective, Stefan A. Riesenfeld

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The doctrine of the immunity of foreign governments from the adjudicatory and enforcement jurisdiction of national courts is rooted in two bases of international law, the notion of sovereignty and the notion of the equality of sovereigns. There is no need to rehearse the historical growth of these foundations of the modern international community. Suffice it to say that E.D. Dickinson's celebrated study, The Equality of States in International Law, furnishes a detailed account of the evolution of these notions.

Although historically the recognition of the jurisdictional immunities of foreign states may have been intertwined with the recognition of the …

Book Note, Covey T. Oliver

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Students of international law in the United States have long desired a textbook to accompany the use of one or another of the "case-materials-problems" study books used in their courses. They do not yet have such a text,' but now they can find substantial degrees of security, guidance, and intellectual encouragement in a veritable gem of a Nutshell. Professors Buergenthal and Maier have written a remarkably accurate and insightful book on international law, almost as if they had engraved it on a small gold tablet. It is, as a work, outstanding in the West Publishing Company Nutshell series.