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Sovereign Immunity

Suits Against The United States, Suits Against The States, Suits Against Foreign Governments



The legal protection that prevents a sovereign state or person from being sued without consent.

Sovereign immunity is a judicial doctrine that prevents the government or its political subdivisions, departments, and agencies from being sued without its consent. The doctrine stems from the ancient English principle that the monarch can do no wrong.



FURTHER READINGS

Doernberg, Donald L. 2004. Sovereign Immunity and/or the Rule of Law: The New Federalism. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.

Durchslag, Melvyn R. 2002. State Sovereign Immunity: A Reference Guide to the United States Constitution. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.

Siegel, Jonathan R. 2003. "Waivers of State Sovereign Immunity and the Ideology of the Eleventh Amendment." Duke Law Journal 52 (April).

Additional topics

Law Library - American Law and Legal InformationFree Legal Encyclopedia: Lemuel Shaw Biography to Special plea