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US Government Debt Different - Finance Department - University of ...

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226 United States Sovereign <strong>Debt</strong>: A Thought Experiment On Default And RestructuringU.S., do have a form <strong>of</strong> connection requirement for the applicability<strong>of</strong> an exception from immunity from execution. 159 The United Naingproperty which is for the time being in use or intended for use for commercialpurposes, shall not be subject to any process for the enforcement <strong>of</strong> a judgment orarbitration award or, in an action in rem, for its arrest detention or sale.”); State ImmunityAct 1979, §15(4) (Cap 313 1979) (Sing.) (“Paragraph (b) <strong>of</strong> subsection (2)does not prevent the issue <strong>of</strong> any process in respect <strong>of</strong> property which is for the timebeing in use or intended for use for commercial purposes.”); State Immunity Act,R.S.C. 1985, c. S-18, §12(1)(b) (Can.) (“property <strong>of</strong> a foreign state that is locatedin Canada is immune from attachment and execution . . . except where . . . (b)the property is used or is intended for a commercial activity;”); Foreign States ImmunitiesAct, Act 87 <strong>of</strong> 1981 §14(3) (S. Afr.) (“Subsection (1)(b) shall not preventthe issue <strong>of</strong> any process in respect <strong>of</strong> property which is for the time being in use orintended for use for commercial purposes.”).See also Nat’l Iranian Oil Co. Revenues from Oil Sales, 65 I.L.R. 215, 242 (F.R.G.Federal Constitutional Court 1983) (rejecting the requirement <strong>of</strong> a connection betweenthe claim and the property sought to be attached, noting that “[a] principle<strong>of</strong> international customary law forbidding a State where proceedings have beenbrought from taking measures <strong>of</strong> enforcement and safeguarding measures againstassets <strong>of</strong> a foreign State which have no connection with the substantive claim beingbrought, cannot be established at present.”); Condor & Filvem v. Nat’l ShippingCo. <strong>of</strong> Nigeria, 33 I.L.M. 593 (It. Constitutional Court 1992), sub nom Condor &Filvem v. Minister <strong>of</strong> Justice, 101 I.L.R. 394, 402 (It. Constitutional Court 1992) (“afurther restriction is not generally recognized . . . that there be a specific link withthe subject matter <strong>of</strong> the request . . . .”); Abbott v. Republic <strong>of</strong> S. Afr., 113 I.L.R. 413,426 (Spain Constitutional Court, Second Chamber 1992) (“it is not necessary thatthe property in respect <strong>of</strong> which execution is sought should be intended for the selfsameactivity jure gestionis as that which provoked the dispute. To hold otherwisewould be to render illusory the right to enforcement <strong>of</strong> judgments in cases like thepresent one, involving the dismissal <strong>of</strong> an embassy employee.”).159 The French Court <strong>of</strong> Cassation held that the property in question had to bethe subject matter <strong>of</strong> the claim in order to be attached, noting “immunity can beset aside in exceptional cases such as where the assets attached have been allocatedfor an economic or commercial activity <strong>of</strong> a private law nature, which has givenrise to the claim at issue.” Islamic Republic <strong>of</strong> Iran v. Eurodif, 77 I.L.R. 513, 515-16(Court <strong>of</strong> Cassation, First Civil Chamber 1984) (noting that in this case “the debtoriginated in the very funds which had been allocated for the implementation <strong>of</strong> theFranco-Iranian programme for the production <strong>of</strong> nuclear energy, whose repudiationby the Iranian party gives rise to the application.”). However, this holding mayhave been undermined by a more recent case. In 2001, a French Court <strong>of</strong> Appealallowed for attachment <strong>of</strong> property <strong>of</strong> a foreign State relying on the ground thatproperty was used or intended for use for commercial activity, but the court madeno mention <strong>of</strong> the connection between the property sought to be attached and theunderlying claim. Creighton Ltd. v. Minister <strong>of</strong> Qatar, Cour d’appel [CA] [regionalcourt <strong>of</strong> appeal] Paris, 1st ch. G, Dec. 12, 2001, reprinted in Revue de l’Arbitrage417, 418 (2003).

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