Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions Case (Greece v United Kingdom)

Facts

• Mavrommatis, a Greek national, held public works concessions in Palestine (then under British Mandate)
• Britain, as the Mandatory Power, granted competing concessions and interfered with Mavrommatis's rights
• Mavrommatis was unable to obtain relief through local remedies
• Greece espoused his claim and brought proceedings against the UK before the PCIJ
• The UK challenged jurisdiction, arguing this was a private commercial dispute

Issue

1. Whether Greece had standing to espouse the claim of Mavrommatis, a private national, and bring it as a state-to-state claim before an international tribunal.

Held

• The PCIJ affirmed jurisdiction and upheld Greece's standing
• When a state takes up the cause of one of its nationals before an international tribunal, the state is asserting its own right
• The right to ensure that rules of international law are respected in the person of its nationals is the state's own right
• The injury to the national is treated as an injury to the state itself
• This is the foundational principle of diplomatic protection

Ratio Decidendi

It is an elementary principle of international law that a state is entitled to protect its subjects when injured by acts contrary to international law committed by another state. By taking up the case of one of its subjects, a state is in reality asserting its own rights, its right to ensure, in the person of its subjects, respect for the rules of international law. The claim thereby becomes the claim of the state itself.