B Internationalprivatelaw 1916

INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW
Author(s): S. E. B.
Source: American Bar Association Journal , APRIL, 1916, Vol. 2, No. 2 (APRIL, 1916), pp.
165-167
Published by: American Bar Association
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Contributions of Comparative Law 165
III.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE BUREAU OF
COMPARATIVE LAW.
A. INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW.

Naturalization.
In view of the present conceptions of racial divisions, Syrians,
it is held in Dow vs. United States, 226 Federal Reporter 145,
come under the Naturalization Act of 1907 as "white persons/'
The Supreme Court of the United States, in Mackenzie vs.
Hare, 239 U. S. 299, has fully sustained the right of Congress, in
the same act, to provide that a woman marrying a foreigner takes
his nationality. In this case the woman, who lived in California,
would have been entitled to vote, if she retained her native
allegiance, and made the point that she had been deprived of her
vote and of her citizenship without her consent. Consenting to
the marriage was held to be consenting to its legal consequences.
The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, which went
into effect on January 1, 1915, subject to local ratifications, has
a similar provision, with a reservation under which, if the hus
band should lose his British citizenship, the wife may make a
declaration that she desires to retain hers, and thereupon shall
retain it.
This act was ratified by Newfoundland in June, 1915.
The Nicaraguan Concordat.
The Nicaraguan Mixed Claims Commission, which passed out
of existence in 1915, had before it a claim of the (Roman Catho
lic) Bishop of Nicaragua for damages for a violation by the state
of Nicaragua of a concordat between it and the Pope of Rome,
made in 1861. Was the concordat to be regarded as an inter
national treaty? Or was it a mere contractual arrangement
between the parties which ceases to bind either if the other
repudiates its obligation? This last question was unanimously
answered in the affirmative, and damages were refused, except to
the extent of allowing the bishop's salary accrued before the
repudiation.1
1 Am. Journal of Int. Law, IX, 869.

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166 The American Bar Association Journal
Seamen's Act.
On November 14, 1915, the Seamen's Act went into effect as to
vessels of American registry.
It follows in general, so far as it relates to the safety of life,
the recommendations of the International Conference on Safety
of Life at Sea, which met at London in 1914.
Seamen on onr vessels are given the right to demand at every
port where cargo is taken on or off, half the wages which they may
then have earned. For seamen arriving here on foreign vessels
a similar right was created after March 4, 1916, and?where
existing treaties provide otherwise?upon their abrogation, which
the President is " directed " to denounce as soon as may be per
mitted by their terms.
It would seem questionable whether this last provision was
within the powers of Congress.
The Validity or Foreign Transactions.

A valuable contribution to the literature of international pri
vate law is made by the treatise of Senor Alejandro Alvarez, a
Chilian publicist, and a member of The Hague Tribunal, on the
" Great European War," published in Paris.1 He maintains that
it is no longer permissible for one nation to refuse to recognize
in its territory the effects of a law of another, or not to accept the
validity of contracts made in another. He regards it as no longer
a matter of courtesy, but of international obligation, founded on
the new principle of the solidarity of nations.
Changes Wrought by the War.

During the past year or two, the rules of international private
law heretofore recognized in time of war have, in matter of
practice, at least, been seriously affected. Senor Alvarez, in the
work above named,2 has summarized the principles governing the
legislation and jurisprudence, in these respects, of France and
Great Britain as follows :
1. No title by prescription can be acquired against a soldier
in the field, nor can he be held to any juridical obligation.
1 La Grande Guerre EuropSenne, etc., Paris, 1915.

a Page 22.

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Contributions of Comparative Law 167
2. Banks have been given temporary privileges to keep them
from insolvency.
3. Individual citizens have been partly released from their
contractual obligations, and moratoriums have been created for
their benefit.
4. The time for exercising certain rights has been enlarged.
5. Any pecuniary aid to subjects of an enemy or trade with
any residents in his territory is forbidden. England has made it
high treason to subscribe to loans to enemy governments.
6. The benefit of all these provisions extends to citizens of
allies or neutrals.
Sequestration of property and debts of enemy's subjects or
residents in an enemy's country, during the war, is ordered. The
government takes possession and in France 2 per cent interest is
allowed on the property seized. Great Britain allows her sub
jects to use processes which are the subject of foreign patents
issued by an enemy, on paying license fees which, on the return
of peace, may be claimed by the patentee.
The Extent o*f the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907.

The Hague Convention of 1907, " as to the Laws and Customs
of War on Land," provides in Article 23, Chapter I, entitled
" Means of Injuring the Enemy, Sieges and Bombardments,"
that it is expressly forbidden to declare extinguished, suspended,
or not the subject of judicial cognizance, the rights and actions
of subjects of an enemy.
These general words would seem, however, to be controlled by
the declared purpose of the convention and of this chapter, so as
to affect only acts of a military commander. S. E. B.
B. EDITORIAL MISCELLANY.
How May Lawyers of One Country be Most Easily and
Effectively Made Acquainted with the Laws
of Another Country.
The typical attitude of mind of the average lawyer is, perhaps,
that of an eminent jurist, to whom this question was put, and his
answer was, "What for, the Legislator? Yes, to improve the
laws of his country, . . . . 6 change, is not synonymous with
6 improvementy . . . . but why the lawyer ? "

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INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699791

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A. INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW.

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The Validity or Foreign Transactions.

Changes Wrought by the War.

1 La Grande Guerre EuropSenne, etc., Paris, 1915.

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The Extent o*f the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907.

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