CHORZÓW FACTORY
CASE
MONIKA WOSIK
PAWEŁ JĘDRYSIAK
INTRODUCTION
• Legal issues:
The role of national law in international court proceedings
Succession of states
Protection of rights acquired
Estimation of property damage
CALENDARY
• 1915 – Agreement between Bayerische Stickstoffwerke an German Reich
• 1919 – Factory is sold by German Reich to Oberschlesische Stickstoffwerke
• 10.01.1920 – Treaty of Versailles entries into force
• 1920 – Poland takes over the ownership of german citizens and companies controlled by
them on territory of the Polish Republic
• 1920 – Managment of Chorzów factory is taken over by Oberschlesische
CALENDARY
• 20.03.1921 – The plebiscite of Silesia
• 15.05.1922 – Poland and Germany signed a contract in Geneva defining the rules for the
treatment of german citizens’ assets in plebiscite areas
• 1.07.1922 – Entry into the court register the PolishTreasury as the factory owner
• 10.11.1922 – The Oberschlesische initates proceedings before the arbitration tribunal
and before the court in Katowice.
• 13.09.1928 – The tribunal renders its judgment
CONTENTS OF JUDGMENT
• „The Polish Government is obliged to pay, as reparation to the
German Government, compensation corresponding to the
losses suffered by the German companies as a consequences to
such proceedings.”
THE ROLE OF DOMESTIC LAW IN INTERNATIONAL
COURT PROCEEDING
• The Court is certainly not called to interpret Polish law but
nothing precludes the tribunal from deciding whether Poland
was acting in accordance with its obligations to Germany under
the Geneva Convention.
RESPONISIBILITY OFTHE STATE
• Any violation of obligations under international law entails an
obligation to repay
Reparation is an inevitable consequence of the failure to apply the
convention. The existence of a principle establishing a commitment to
carry out reparations is an element of positive international law.
EFFECTS OF RESPONSIBILITY
• Reparation must, to what extent it is possible to erase all consequences of a
prohibited act and restore a state that would probably exist if the action was not
carried out. Restitution in kind or if it is not possible, payment of the amount the
corresponding value that would require restitution in kind; compensation, if
required, for damage caused by a long-term loss caused, which can not be
restitution in kind or payment made in its places - these are the basic rules that
serve to determine the appropriate compensation for damage caused by an act
contrary to international law.
STATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSEDTO
CITIZENS OF ANOTHER COUNTRY
• The most frequently used form of reparations is the payment of
compensation corresponding to the amount of damage suffered by the
citizens of the injured party, resulting from an act inconsistent with
international law.
• This form was chosen by Germany in the present case
ESTIMATION OF PROPERTY DAMAGE
• When estimating the damage caused by an unlawful act, only the value of
the property, rights and interests which have been infringed, as well as only
the owner, who is a person for which the claim for damages is brought, as
well as the damage being the measure of the reparations demanded,
caused to him, should be taken into account.
THANKYOU FORYOUR ATTENTION