The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission: Its Functions and Jurisdiction

Even the casual student of nationalizations and confiscations must be aware of the fact that whereas nationalizations were formerly isolated occurrences, they have today become matters of almost common practice. The Mexican expropriations, the Soviet nationalizations, and the Iranian nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company are in modern times merely landmarks of an apparently ever-widening path. A reading of the daily newspapers has offered adequate warning to the American investor abroad that no part of the world has been immune from this phenomenon. Whether under the label of "agrarian reform" or "socialization," these nationalizations are of the greatest importance, and, quite apart from their effect on foreign investments, reflect the ideological conflict concerning the notion of property as it has been traditionally understood by jurists and lawyers Moreover, the unparalleled rise of United States investments abroad has imparted a note of intense urgency to our efforts in search of sound legal and practical solutions.