Law School Case Briefs
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AMERICAN BANANA CO. v. UNITED FRUIT CO.
Supreme Court of United States (1909) | 213 U.S. 347; 29 S.Ct. 511; 53 L.Ed. 826
TL;DR: A U.S. company sued a competitor under the Sherman Act for monopolistic acts committed in Central America. The Supreme Court held that U.S. law does not apply to conduct occurring within a foreign sovereign's territory, especially when the injury results from official acts of that foreign government.
Legal Significance: This case established the strong presumption against the extraterritorial application of U.S. statutes and articulated an early, robust version of the act of state doctrine, which bars U.S. courts from judging the validity of a foreign government's sovereign acts committed within its own territory.