[Music] actions of sovereign states are regulated by the concepts of jurisdiction and immunities basically what states can and cannot do on certain events with certain subjects and objects and other types of situations jurisdiction is the competence to make apply and enforce legal rules so remember our comparison with domestic law well domestic law usually consists of the ecosystem of the three branches of the government the legislative executive and judiciary branches so jurisdiction is the competence to apply these three branches on certain subjects and objects like citizens territory and property there are two main types of jurisdiction prescriptive jurisdiction and enforcement jurisdiction enforcement jurisdiction is the right to take executive action to enforce the rules while prescriptive jurisdiction is the right to make rules which bind people enforcement jurisdiction simply relies on the basis of territoriality whereby a state may execute an act legally if the subject object or property is in its territory simple as that though enforcement jurisdiction can be extended through an extradition treaty a written agreement between two or more states that allows enforcement jurisdiction on certain subjects and or objects within the territory of the other state party or parties an example would be the multiple extradition treaties of the united states prescriptive jurisdiction is much more complicated as it has multiple principles note that these are quote unquote principles and not hard set rules there are six principles for prescriptive jurisdiction the territorial principle the nationality principle the protective principle the effects principle the passive personality principle and the universal jurisdiction principle the territorial principle is the normal basis for jurisdiction and is quite straightforward if an event occurs in the territory of a state then that state has jurisdiction over the elements of that event the nationality principle recognizes that a state has jurisdiction over its nationals inside and outside of its territory which means even if a national of that state commits a crime abroad the criminal state of nationality has jurisdiction over that criminal this not only includes individuals but also private entities like corporations like in the barcelona attraction case the protective principle recognizes that a state has jurisdiction over instances where its national interest is injured by a certain act this principle applies even though if the act that caused the injury was done outside its territory and by a non-national this is a highly controversial principle but it has nonetheless been cited to provide jurisdiction an example would be the aichman in jerusalem case whereby a nazi official was tried in a court in israel over war crimes he committed in europe the effects principle recognizes that a state has jurisdiction over acts outside its territory which have effects within its territory this is similar to the controversial protective principle though their areas of application may differ the passive personality principle recognizes that a state has jurisdiction over an act and the person committing that act which occurred abroad that resulted to the injury or death or will result to injury or death of one of its nationals previously this is a highly controversial principle as it is quite vague though this has gained traction with the concern over terrorist threats and attacks which target certain nationalities so for example state a will have jurisdiction over a terrorist which targeted and killed the nationals of state a while they were in state b's territory finally states have universal jurisdiction over certain acts and offenses this means all states have jurisdiction and may exercise custody over the offenders with no other connection like nationality the offenses which trigger universal jurisdiction include piracy crimes against humanity and perhaps grave war crimes there are other special jurisdictional regimes which have been elaborated on by certain treaty regimes like the law of the sea convention which talks about flag state jurisdiction in the high seas and the outer space treaty which bases jurisdiction on nationality again these are principles not hard set rules meaning it is up to the court and judges to deliberate and decide accordingly as states may have multiple ways of gaining jurisdiction and in international law jurisdiction is often overlapping which is why some cases take so long to proceed so to secure jurisdiction and consent of sovereign states similar to the principles of jurisdiction there are multiple concepts of immunity a failure to accord a right of immunity is a breach of international law this is because again of the concepts of sovereignty and sovereign equality there is no power above the sovereign state and thus in absolute theory there should be no restrictions and punishment towards sovereigns hence the concept of immunity the principal concept for immunity is sovereign immunity quite possibly the oldest rule of customary international law it is an absolute right of the sovereign state to immunity from the jurisdiction of other states in effect it is an exception to territorial jurisdiction nevertheless there are limitations as states for example engage in private commercial transactions and thus consensually lose some of its absolute immunity to guarantee its financial obligations acts of this nature are called acta euregestiones or acts by right of management or acts of a commercial nature as opposed to acta yuri emperia or acts by right of dominion or acts of a governmental nature sovereign immunity only applies to the state itself and the individuals who represent the state like the head of state and foreign ministers functional immunities are immunities granted to representatives of states and international organizations to allow them to carry out their duties and responsibilities to keep it simple an act by the representative for it to be under functional immunity must be an official act not a private act the extent of functional immunities depends on the function of the individual or entity in the international arena furthermore there are two concepts under functional immunities immunity rationae personae and the immunity rationing material immunity rationing personae is the immunity of an individual for the period that that individual holds the relevant status under international law thus the individual loses her immunity once she loses her relevant status under international law immunity rationing materiel is immunity granted for all time for official acts thus the individual enjoying this immunity is immune forever from jurisdiction and other actions for her official actions heads of state as the principal incarnate representation of the state enjoy absolute immunity a form of rationae personae while in office she is the sovereign incarnate or she is the state and thus her immunity is absolute though this immunity is usually regulated by custom like diplomatic protocols and treaties like the rome statute of the icc whereby an incumbent head of state may be tried and convicted for international crimes once an individual ceases to be a head of state she holds rashene materiae losing absolute immunity though retaining immunity for official acts during her time as head of state furthermore former heads of state may be liable to the jurisdiction of foreign courts and law enforcement institutions if it is found that the act in question is not an official conduct of a head of state like international crimes and torture foreign ministers as the direct representative of the state after the head of state enjoy the same immunities as the heads of state with regards to ambassadors and consuls there is the vienna convention on diplomatic relations and the vienna convention on consular relations in spirit the immunities enjoyed by ambassadors and consuls along with their staff and property depend on their functions for example consoles have less immunities than ambassadors as consuls primarily handle commercial and administrative duties while ambassadors handle duties beyond these two you will learn more about diplomatic protocols and immunities soon in your diplomacy class and that's about it thank you for the semester and hope to see you around bye [Music] you