Sale of British Embassy Building Case

• Jurisdiction: Grecia
• Date: 01 January 1962
• Court: Supreme Court (Greece)

Greece, Court of Cassation (First Chamber).

(Cafcas, President; Charalambis, Rapporteur)

Sale of British Embassy Building Case1

GREECE

Sovereign immunity Property of foreign States immunity from execution Forcible sale of building leased for use as embassy premises Measures of execution subject to authorisation of minister of justice Whether unauthorised measures void or voidable Whether private individual or only foreign State entitled to invoke lack of authorisation of such measures The law of Greece

Summary: The facts:The owner of a building which had been leased for use as premises for the British Embassy in Greece sought to have the compulsory sale of the building by auction declared void on the ground that since the building was leased to a foreign State its sale required the prior authorisation of the Minister of Justice under a...