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Date:
Mon, 23 Oct 2006 13:37:59 +0100
From:
Andrew Tettenborn
Subject:
Mbasogo
Charles
Mitchell wrote:
Members
of the group may have been following the ongoing litigation in
the English courts arising out of the attempted coup in Equatorial
Guinea which came to a premature end in 2004 when a group of mercenaries
funded by Sir Mark Thatcher among others were arrested in Zimbabwe.
The latest chapter in the saga is Mbasogo,
President of the State of Equatorial Guinea v Logo Ltd
[2006] EWCA Civ 1370, where the CA has held that the tort claims
made by the state of Equatorial Guinea were not justiciable in
the English courts, essentially because they amounted to a claim
for losses sustained in the exercise of the power of a sovereign
state to protect itself from revolution. Following Wong v
Parkside the CA also declined to hold that President Mbasogo
had any cause of action in respect of emotional distress suffered
as a result of the defendants' intentional actions - the fact
that their actions were unlawful (unlike those in Wong)
was insufficient reason to distinguish the case and give him a
claim.
Also
in the Equatorial Guinea case -- it really is like something
out of Evelyn Waugh's Scoop -- a (slightly unreal) discussion
of assault and liability for knowingly causing distress. You see,
the President argued that if a coup took place, he personally would
be distressed, and that the presence of insurgent troops might put
him in fear for his life and safety ...
Andrew
--
Andrew Tettenborn MA LLB
Bracton Professor of Law
University of Exeter, England
Tel:
01392-263189 / +44-392-263189 (outside UK)
Cellphone: 07870-130528 / +44-7870-130528 (outside UK)
Fax: 01392-263196 / +44-392-263196 (outside UK)
Snailmail:
School of Law,
University of Exeter,
Amory Building,
Rennes Drive,
Exeter EX4 4RJ
England
Exeter
Law School homepage: http://www.law.ex.ac.uk
My homepage: http://www.law.ex.ac.uk/staff/tettenborn.shtml
LAWYER,
n. One skilled in circumvention of the law (Ambrose Bierce, 1906).
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