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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2017
Expropriation of property belonging to aliens in foreign countries was unusual prior to World War I. Occasional cases could be found, but such expropriation was always restricted to one or a few owners of property who, for various reasons, came into conflict with a foreign government. Wholesale expropriation of foreign-owned property began on a moderate scale in Mexico in 1915, and was later expanded in that country. Expropriation of all kinds of property, including foreign property, was introduced by Soviet Russia after the 1917 revolution. After World War I some Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, began to expropriate the large agrarian estates of the former German, Austrian, and Hungarian nobility and other rich landowners. These expropriations were, by the terms of the agrarian reform laws, based upon compensation to be paid by the respective states.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and are not necessarily those of the International Claims Commission or of the Department of State.
1 Hackworth, Digest of International Law, Vol. Ill, p. 655.
2 Gsovski, Soviet Civil Law, Vol. I, pp. 10–21.
3 Doman, “Postwar Nationalization of Foreign Property in Europe,” 48 Columbia Law Beview 1125 et seq.
4 Gsovski, op. cit., pp. 555–592.
5 Report No. 800, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 81st Cong., 1st Sess., July 28, 1949, p. 3 et seq.
6 Department of State Publication No. 3307, Washington, 1948, 62 Stat. 2658 et seq.
7 Senate Beport No. 800, supra.
8 Public Law 455, 81st Cong., 64 Stat. 12, 22 U.S.C. 1621, published in this Journal, Supp., Vol. 45 (1951), pp. 58–65.
9 Public Law 814, 77th Cong., approved Dec. 18, 1942.
10 See Bert L. Hunt, American and Panamanian General Claims Arbitration, Report, 1834, pp. 573–578.
11 U. S. Treaties 685, published in this Journal, Supp., Vol. 45 (1951), pp. 93–96.
12 Public Notice No. 65 of the Department of State, Oct. 24, 1950, 15 Fed. Reg. 7215.
13 15 Fed. Reg. 8734; 16 Fed. Reg. 11102.
14 Public Law 242, approved Aug. 8, 1953.
