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Opinions of the Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany (Part II)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2017

Edwin M. Borchard
Edwin M. Borchard*
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Extract

The Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany, is nearing the completion of its labors. It has considered about 12,000 claims, of which about 7,000 have been entirely disallowed. The claims as originally instituted amounted to some $1,480,000,000, including the government claim for reimbursement of Rhine Army costs, a claim not pressed. The awards to American citizens and corporations will amount, it is estimated, to about $125,000,000 principal and about $50,000,000 interest (to January, 1926), a total of about $175,000,000; the government's claims for subrogation as an insurer on maritime losses, for lost Shipping Board vessels, and in the Veterans’ Bureau, will amount, with interest, to about $60,000,000. Considering that the treaty under which these awards were made established rules of liability and damages widely exceeding the rules of international law, the ratio between awards and claims is probably not far in excess of the average, which is comparatively small. It may also be said that the commission, dealing with 12,000 claims in approximately three years, has established a record for speedy adjudications never before achieved. A critique of the decisions and opinions of the commission down to January, 1925, was essayed in an editorial comment published in this Journal, Volume XIX, p. 133. The present article will undertake to consider the decisions and opinions rendered during 1925. These practically conclude the decisive judicial work of the commission.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 1926 , pp. 69 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1926

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References

1 Borchard, Diplomatic Protection of Citizens Abroad, pp. 857-858.

2 Opinions, p. 195; this Journal, Vol. 19, p. 630. These opinions are now published by the Mixed Claims Commission in a consolidated edition, with the same page numbering as the individual opinions.

3 Opinions, p. 103; this Journal, Vol. 19, p. 593.

4 Borchard, op. cit, sec. 284.

5 Ibid. sec. 285, and particularly Umpire Ralston's remarks in Corvaia (Italy) v. Venezuela, Feb. 13, 1903, Ralston, 782, 809.

6 In the report of the Secretary of State to the Senate, March 2, 1921, the Secretary sug-gested that “these cases do not possess the element of continuous American nationality.”

7 Opinions, p. 213; this Journal, Vol. 19, p.803.

8 Opinions, p. 221; this Journal, Vol. 19, p. 806.

9 16 Wallace, 147, at 154.

10 See Webster's remark in Thrasher's case, Works, Boston, 1851, VI, p. 518 at p. 526. See also Opinions, p. 613.

11 Opinions, p. 231; this Journal, Vol. 19, p. 810.

12 Shields' case, May 24, 1897, Malloy's Treaties, I, 190. Shields, a British subject, died during the negotiations, yet the prosecution of the claim was continued on behalf of his heirs. $3500 was paid to the United States. Foreign Relations, 1900, p. 67.

13 Department of State Instruction No. 919, November 24, 1923, Circulars Relating to Citizenship, 1925, pp. 118, 120.

14 Opinions, p. 243; this Journal, Vol. 19, p. 815.

15 Opinions, p. 267; this Journal, Vol. 19, p. 821.

16 Opinions, p. 273; reprinted in this JOURNAL, p. 171, infra. It also has an added title. Administrative Decision No. VII.

17 Anglo-German Mixed Arbitral Tribunal, RecueU des Decisions, I, p, 550; IV, p. 27.

18 opinions of the mixed claims commission 79.

19 Opinions, p. 326; this Journal, p. 185, infra.

20 Opinions, p. 347; reprinted in this Journal, p. 202, infra.

21 Opinions, p. 241; this Journal, Vol. 19, p. 813.