The Bank for International Settlements and the Czech Gold Assets Held by the Bank Of England
| Date | 01 October 1939 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1939.tb00753.x |
| Author | G. Schwarzenberger |
| Published date | 01 October 1939 |
I50
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
Oct.,
1939
THE BANK
FOR
INTERNATIONAL
SETTLEMENTS AND THE CZECH GOLD
ASSETS HELD
BY
THE BANK
OF
ENGLAND
The facts leading up to this controversy can be summarised shortly.
The B.I.S. held certain assets for the former Czechoslovak National
Bank, which
it
deposited in the form of gold with the Bank of England.
At a date not yet disclosed, following the establishment of the German
protectorates in Bohemia and Moravia, the B.I.S. gave instructions to
the Bank of England to hand over these assets either to the German
Reichsbank or
to
the new Bank of Bohemia and Moravia.
It
is understood
that these instructions have been obeyed.1
I.
The case raises a number of legal points which are worth examina-
tion: for instance, the legal status of the B.I.S., the control of the
signatory States over the board of the B.I.S., or the extent of the immuni-
ties of property granted to the B.I.S.’ Limited space precludes more than
an examination of the question whether the action of the B.I.S. can be
challenged before
a
competent court by any of the States’ signatories of
the Agreements of
20th
January,
1930,
and on what grounds.
11.
As the Bank
of
England held the gold on the orders of the B.I.S.,
it
must be admitted that these assets are immune from measures of
national legislation which might, in regard to holdings
of
this kind, extend
the scope
of
the Czechoslovakia (Restrictions on Banking Accounts &c.)
Act,
1939
(2
&
3
Geo.
VI, Ch.
11),
in accordance with Article
X
of the
Agreement of 20th January,
1930.
between Belgium, France, Germany,
Great Britain, Italy and Japan,a with
No.
6 of the Constituent Charter
of
the B.I.S., embodied in the Convention between the signatories of the
above agreement and Switzerland,’ and with Article
I
of the Brussels
Protocol of 30th July,
1936.6
111.
Article
2
of the Convention of 20th January,
1930,
between
Switzerland and the signatories of the Convention mentioned above under
I1
provides for arbitral settlement of any dispute between Switzerland and
any
of
the other signatories “relating to the interpretation or application
of the present Convention.”
The Constituent Charter of the
B.I.S.
and the annexed Statutes are
part
of the Convention.‘
The Arbitral Tribunal for which provision
is
made in the Convention
is
established under the Agreement referred to above under
11.
The
tribunal
is
composed
“
of five members appointed for five years, of whom
one, who will
be
the Chairman, shall be
a
citizen of the U.S.A.;
two
shall be nationals of States which were neutral during the late war; the
two
others shall be respectively
a
national of Germany and
a
national
1
Hansard,
House
of Commons, vol.
347,
cols.
1927,
2092;
The
Economist,
1939.
p.
495;
The Times,
13th
June,
1939.
*
For
a
discussion
of
these questions, see
Sir
John
Fischer Williams, “The
Legal Character
of
the
B.I.S.,”
A.J.I.L.,
1930.
p.
665
et
seq.,
and
the
present
writer’s
Die Internationalen Banken
fur
Zahlungsausgleich und Agrarkredite.
Berlin,
1932.
*
Cmd.
3763 (1931).
p.
8.
Cmd.
3766 (1931).
p.
4.
Cmd.
5344 (1937)#
P.
4-
Set,
the monograph quoted above
in
note
2,
p.
17
et seq.
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