Musurus Bey v Gadban: CA 1894

Musurus Bey had been the accredited Ambassador of the Sultan of Turkey in London for some thirty years prior to his recall in December 1885. He wound up his official and personal business and in February 1886 he returned to Turkey where he lived until his death in 1890. In 1892 his executors brought proceedings against the defendants who sought to counterclaim in debt for money lent by them to Musurus Bey in 1873 while he was Ambassador in London and which, it was alleged, had never been repaid.
Held: The counterclaim was not statute barred. The wrongdoer may be entitled to diplomatic immunity at the time of the tort. No cause of action could accrue against a debtor during such period as he enjoyed diplomatic immunity, though an envoy’s immunity from suit and legal process in respect of acts done in his private capacity endures only so long as he is ‘en poste’ and for a sufficient time thereafter to enable him to wind up his affairs

AL Smith and Davey LJJ
[1894] 2 QB 352
England and Wales

Contract, Limitation

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.561222