Act of state doctrine

The act-of-state doctrine is a principle in international law whereby acts done by a state in its own territory cannot be challenged by the national courts of another state. The doctrine covers legislative action by foreign states and also executive actions relating to state-owned property.

As a principle of federal common law in the United States it states, in circumstances where it applies, that courts in the United States will not rule on the validity of another government's (formal) sovereign act with respect to property located within the latter's own territory. The act-of-state doctrine enters consideration most often in cases where a foreign sovereign has expropriated the property of a U.S. national located in that foreign territory (e.g. through nationalization).

United States law

Background

The act of state doctrine entered into American jurisprudence in the case Underhill v. Hernandez, 168 U.S. 250 (1897). In an 1892 revolution, General José Manuel "Mocho" Hernández expelled the existing Venezuelan government and took control of Ciudad Bolívar, where plaintiff Underhill lived and ran a waterworks system for the city. Underhill, an American citizen, repeatedly applied to Hernández for an exit passport, but his requests were refused, and Underhill was forced to stay in Ciudad Bolívar and run the waterworks. Hernández finally relented and allowed Underhill to return to the United States, where he instituted an action to recover damages for his detention in Venezuela.