In the last two decades the law on State Immunity has undergone profound change. The old rules of English law, according to which foreign states enjoyed absolute immunity from the jurisdiction of English courts, were replaced during the 1970s with rules conferring only limited immunity. Similar developments occurred in many other jurisdictions, and it is now generally true that states do not enjoy immunity in respect of commercial transactions. That much is trite. Deciding exactly where to draw the boundaries of immunity, and even the prior step of deciding which law—whether it be public international law, the lex fori or some other law—governs the question, are matters of much greater complexity, as this excellent monograph demonstrates.

Professor Schreuer combines an elegant account of the general workings of the modern law of state immunity with a series of detailed and perceptive analyses of particular problems concerning the boundaries of state immunity. In successive chapters he examines practice and policy concerning the exceptions from immunity in respect of commercial transactions, torts, and arbitrations involving states. Later chapters are devoted to the more general problems of identifying those entities which are to count as “the state” for the purposes of immunity and to the particular problems of immunity in relation to enforcement measures. In each chapter the author discusses in detail recent legislation and case law not only of England and the United States but also of more than a dozen other jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, and most European states.

This comparative approach is not of purely academic value. Courts are still finding their way in this immensely important area of the law. In many cases each individual court is only one part of a larger picture of international litigation, and courts are well aware of the desirability of reaching decisions that do not contradict those of other courts involved. They also know that decisions may affect the reputation of their country as a centre for commercial business and dispute settlement. Both factors lead them to consider developments in other countries. When Professor Schreuer argues that problems concerning state immunity are