Prince Hans-Adam II v. Municipality of Cologne

Abstract

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Treaties — Effect in domestic law — Federal Republic of Germany — Postwar treaties — Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany, 1990 — Constitutional status — Whether part of German law

States — Germany — Status under allied occupation — Resumption of full sovereignty by united Germany — Effect on postwar treaties — Convention on the Settlement of Matters Arising out of the War and the Occupation, 1952

Treaties — Application — Termination — Convention on the Settlement of Matters Arising out of the War and the Occupation, 1952 — Effect in German law — Relationship with Treaty on the Final Settlement with respect to Germany, 1990 — Termination by exchange of notes, 1990

War and armed conflict — Reparations — Seizure of German external assets — Convention on the Settlement of Matters Arising out of the War and the Occupation, 1952 — Definition of German a matter for the law of the confiscating State — Persons of German ethnic origin possessing nationality of neutral State — Whether assets liable to seizure — Whether German courts entitled to adjudicate upon claims — The law of Germany