Phillips v Eyre (1870) LR 6 QB 1

Facts: A British colonial governor in Jamaica brutally put down rebellion against colonial rule there. After the insurrection, the Jamaican Parliament issued retrospective legislation to give immunity to the governor. In the UK, the governor avoided criminal conviction, but was sued in tort. 

Held: Tort claim needed to be actionable in the locus delicti i.e. Jamacia and in the forum i.e. England (the “double actionability rule”). Here, no tort liability because the governor had immunity under the law of Jamaica. 

Double actionability rule (Wills J): “As a general rule, in order to find a suit in [the forum], for a wrong alleged to have been committed abroad, two conditions must be fulfilled. First, the wrong must be of such a character that it would have been actionable if committed in [the forum]… Second, the act must not have been justifiable by the law of the place where it is done.”

Note: Koop v Bebb (1951) 84 CLR 629 adopted this in Australia.