Trendtex Trading Corporation v. Central Bank of Nigeria 1(1977) 1 All ER 881.

In this case, a Company in England sued the Central Bank of Nigeria for damages arising out of a commercial transaction. The Bank took up the position that it was performing governmental functions and as such was immune from suit under the international doctrine of sovereign immunity. Though the rules of international law relating to the doctrine of sovereign immunity have changed so as to exclude commercial transactions from the operation of this doctrine, this had not been adopted in England by the decisions of courts or by an Act of Parliament. So it was contented on behalf of the bank that the court should apply the doctrine of sovereign immunity as propounded by the English courts in the past. Lord Denning rejected this argument and held that as the international law rules in this area have changed, the courts can take cognizance of the changed rules without any act of transformation by previous decisions of the English courts or an Act of Parliament. He quoted what Galileo said of the earth and said that like the earth, international law also 'does move. This judgment which was a remarkable departure from a long line of cases, for the first time laid down that the rules of international law are incorporated into English law automatically without any specific act of transformation. He further held that the doctrine of stare decisis had no application to the rules of international law and that if the court is satisfied that the rule of international law on a subject has changed from what it was earlier, it can give effect to that change and apply the change in English law, without waiting for the House of Lords to do it. The resulting position is that courts can apply now customary rules of international law automatically without their adoption by an Act of Parliament or previous decisions. The only restriction placed by the court is that the rule so applied should not conflict with an Act of Parliament.