Corporate civil liability for violations of customary International law. A case note on the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Nevsun

Abstract

In its judgment rendered on February 2020 in the case of Nevsun v. Araya, the Supreme Court of Canada opens the door to civil claims for damages by individuals against corporations before Canadian courts for violations of customary international law allegedly occurred abroad. The opinion revisits and analyzes in depth the state of the Canadian common law with respect to fundamental and controversial legal issues such as state immunity, the act of state doctrine, the adoption of the customary international law into the domestic legal system, the direct application of norms of public international law to private actors, the extraterritorial jurisdiction of civil courts, the division of powers and justiciability in domestic courts of acts by sovereign states, as well as the corporate liability for violations of customary international law norms (including human rights international law).