It will be remembered that notes were exchanged between the United States, Great Britain, Soviet Kussia, and the Republic of Turkey on the subject of the Turkish Straits which it was desired during the Potsdam talks to link with the general problem of peace. It is our intention to discuss the problem of the Straits in the light of these notes.

The American national who suffered war damage to property on territory of an enemy country during World War II is encouraged by the progress already made on the peace treaties to believe that the duty to provide compensation for his damage will be imposed directly upon the government of the enemy country. Upon the coming into force of the peace treaties with Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Roumania, and Finland, each of those countries will be obliged to provide for damage to property of United Nations nationals in its territory compensation equal to two-thirds of the sum necessary to purchase similar property or to make good the loss suffered. If a similar pattern is followed when the treaties with Germany, Austria, and Japan are written each of those countries will also be obliged to provide compensation for damage to property of United Nations nationals on its territory.

Among the most controversial features of the Nuremberg Trial have been the repeated efforts of the Allied Powers to prove that the law created by the London Agreement and the Charter of the International Military Tribunal attached to this Agreement was but declaratory of already existing rules of general international law, and that the verdict of the Tribunal, apart from its immediate purpose of retribution, must be considered as the first attempt in history to establish a legal precedent destined to act as a powerful deterrent against possible future resort to illegal war. The Final Report on the Nuremberg Trial, submitted by the American Representative to the President of the United States, reiterates these dominant ideas by declaring: “The four nations, through their prosecutors and through their representatives on the Tribunal, have enunciated standards of conduct … by which the Germans have been condemned” and which “will become the condemnation of any nation that is faithless to them.” Moreover, this document emphasizes what is termed “the power of the precedent” by asserting that “no one can hereafter deny or fail to know that the principles on which the Nazi leaders are adjudged to forfeit their lives constitute law—and law with a sanction.”

On the 24th of October, 1945, the nationalization of mines, certain industrial enterprises, banks, and insurance companies was decreed in Czechoslovakia. The decrees took effect on the 27th day of October, 1945, the day of their promulgation. The purpose of this study is to examine these measures and their effects, first, on foreign-owned property in Czechoslovakia and, second, on assets of Czechoslovak nationalized enterprises located abroad. Particular emphasis will be placed on the effect of the decrees on property owned by American nationals in Czechoslovakia and on assets situated in the United States of enterprises nationalized in Czechoslovakia.

Denazification has uniformly been accepted as one of the primary responsibilities of American Military Government in Germany under both United States and quadripartite general occupation policy statements. The United States has assumed preponderant responsibility for leadership in promoting and developing the Denazification program in Germany, first through the establishment of a comprehensive program in the American Zone and later by inducing the other Occupying Powers to accept much if not most of this program in quadripartite regulations approved by the Control Council at Berlin.

The problem of the privileges and immunities of international organizations has become very prominent in recent times and has raised not a few difficult questions. While many aspects of this problem cannot yet be regarded as definitively settled, there is, on the other hand, a trend toward the development of a new uniform and general international law concerning this topic. It seems, therefore, timely to investigate briefly this problem in its different ramifications historical and theoretical.