Book Review: Problems of the German-American Claims Commission

Abstract

This important analysis and commentary by the German judge of the Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany, upon the legal questions before that Commission is a work of permanent value. Under the economic and reparation clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, as adopted by the United States, the Commission passed upon the claims of American citizens against Germany arising out of the war, whether the losses were occasioned by violations of international law or not. The jurisdiction of the Commission extended to claims for losses occurring after July 31, 1914, on account of deaths and personal injuries, hull and cargo losses, property losses in occupied territory and in Germany, American interests in German estates, and debts owed to American citizens by German nationals, including bank deposits and bonds. During the period of "neutrality " - down to April 6, 1917 -it was necessary to show that a German agent caused the loss; during the period of the war, it was not necessary to identify the causative agent, so that Germany was held liable, for example, for losses occasioned by the collision of an American ship with a French cruiser outside Havana harbor and for losses suffered by owners of American factories in Germany through bombs dropped by Allied aviators. On the mark debts, Germany was held liable for valorization of the mark at sixteen cents per mark. American insurers of British goods lawfully destroyed according to the rules of war received compensation for their underwritten risks. The German commissioner is correct when he calls attention to the fact that the claims arising out of violations of international law were comparatively few.