OBSERVATIONS ON DRAFT PEACE TREATIES



ment in various foreign countries lead one to hope that Italian man-
power may be utilised abroad on a large scale to the advantage of
world economy. But emigration would meet with serious obstacles,
also of a psychological nature, if, when Italy is once more admitted to
the international community, Italians owning property abroad were
to see the results of their work suddenly annulled.
  It should be remarked, moreover, that this clause does not exist in
the Treaty with Finland and its inclusion in the Treaties with
Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria is still under discussion.
  Consequently the Italian Delegation must insist on Article 69 being
suppressed or at least restricted to the property, rights and interests
of the Italian State other than those used for consular or diplomatic
purposes.
  B. Should the suppression not be possible, this article would have to
be differently worded so that the clause is only applied in cases where
credits actually exist and only within such limits as are strictly neces-
sary for satisfying the claims of the Allied or Associated Powers,
respecting at the same time the principles of justice and legality. The
provision of Article 69 merely mentions that Italian property, rights
and interests will be liquidated in accordance with the laws of the
Allied or Associated Power concerned, but does not establish the pro-
cedure to be followed in determining the amount of the credit of each
Allied or Associated Power and of its nationals. On the contrary
this article seems to leave such evaluation to the creditor Powers, in
contrast to all generally recognised juridical principles.
  Furthermore, no procedure is established for determining the value
of property, rights and interests that each of the Allied or Associated
Powers contemplates liquidating to pay its credit.
  The clause under discussion seems to exclude also the possibility for
Italy to pay her debts by other means in order to avoid the liquidation
foreseen by the Treaty. This would mean ignoring the right that all
legislations generally recognise to debtors of meeting their obligations
by any appropriate means of payment in order to avoid the seizure
of their property by their creditors.
  As this clause restricts the right of ownership in the most excep-
tional manner and is in contrast with the general principle according
to which each person must answer with his property for his obligations
and only for them, it is essential to modify the proposed system so that
the Allied and Associated Powers shall have the right to seize Italian
property until their claims and those of their nationals are satisfied,
but shall not have the right to liquidate it unless it is impossible for
them to obtain the payment of their credits otherwise.



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