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12 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 259 (1979)
The Act of State Doctrine and Its Exceptions: An Introduction

handle is hein.journals/vantl12 and id is 277 raw text is: THE ACT OF STATE DOCTRINE AND ITS EXCEPTIONS: AN INTRODUCTION A. B. Conant, Jr.** The act of state doctrine' poses a serious obstacle for plaintiffs seeking redress in United States courts for wrongful public acts by a recognized foreign sovereign within its own territory. Depending on the circumstances, however, various exceptions to the Doctrine may be invoked. This article is intended to be a brief introduction to the Doctrine and its exceptions and a survey of recent cases in which the Doctrine was construed by United States courts. The present inquiry into the nature and scope of the doctrine begins with the seminal case, Underhill v. Hernandez,2 where it was held that: Every sovereign state is bound to respect the independence of every other sovereign state, and the courts of one country will not sit in judgment on the acts of the government of another done within its own territory. Redress of grievances by reason of such acts must be obtained through means open to be availed of by sovereign powers as between themselves.3 Almost all of the early case law around which the doctrine devel- oped involved situations in which plaintiff was asserting the * The author has kindly submitted this paper as a background summary of the legal theory underlying the legislation proposed by Representative Albert Gore, infra. ** B.A., 1961, North Texas State College; J.D. cum laude, 1963, Baylor Uni- versity. 1. The doctrine of sovereign immunity will often hinder judicial redress also. Although the Act of State Doctrine and the doctrine of sovereign immunity are interrelated, the latter doctrine is outside the scope of this article. In addition, no attempt will be made in this article to analyze the possible effects of proposed antitrust legislation on the Act of State Doctrine. It should be noted, however, that such proposed legislation may significantly affect prior decisions in this area. See Hunt v. Mobile Oil Corp., 550 F.2d 68 (2d Cir.,), cert denied, 432 U.S. 904 (1977); Timberlane Lumber Co. v. Bank of America, N.T. & S.A., 549 F.2d 597 (9th Cir., 1976); Occidental Petroleum Corp. v. Buttes Gas & Oil Co., 331 F. Supp. 92 (C.D. Cal. 1971), aff'd per curiam, 461 F.2d 1261 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 950 (1972). 2. Underhill v. Hernandez, 168 U.S. 250 (1897). 3. Id. at 252.

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