CONFLICT OF LAWS-REFUGEE GOVERNMENT PROPERTY CONSERVATION DECREES IN THE COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES

In the Feuchtwanger case, a French government decree of April 24, 1940, as amended May 10, 1940, defined as prohibited exportation of capital "the acts of allowing to remain outside of French territory, or keeping in foreign exchange or foreign currencies, or of not collecting within the territories fixed by decree or instruction of the Minister of Finance, all or part of the proceeds of the exportation of merchandise, or of the remuneration for services, as well as all or part of all proceeds or income abroad." In May 1939, plaintiff, then a resident of France, purchased a number of United States Federal Reserve Notes in Canada, and directed that they be transferred to defendant Banque Jordaan, a French banking corporation. Jordaan directed that they be transmitted to defendant Hanover for deposit to Jordaan's credit. When the plaintiff learned of this, he brought this action to impress the deposit with a trust in his favor. In June, 1940, the plaintiff fled from France, and was residing in this country at the time of the litigation.

Hanover pleaded that the decree of the French government prohibited a recovery by the plaintiff.