Expropriated Religious Properties (Spain, France and Great Britain/Portugal)

Facts

After the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic in October 1910, certain church properties belonging to nationals of France, Great Britain and Spain were seized by the Portuguese Government. The French, British and Spanish Governments submitted claims relative to these properties and, by a submission agreement concluded on 31 July 1913, agreed to submit these claims to an arbitral tribunal which would have to decide in accordance with the conventional law applicable or pursuant to the provisions and general principles of law and equity. Moreover, in accordance with an agreement concluded on 13 August 1920, the British, French and Portuguese Governments agreed that the Tribunal would have complete freedom in settling according to equity and by a single judgment or several judgments, the claims which formed the subject of the arbitration.

Decision of the Arbitral Tribunal

In the case of the French claims, the Tribunal found that the claims submitted having for their origin the same facts, they would be decided in the same judgment. The same was applicable to the British claims.

As to the substance, the Tribunal declared judgment taking into account, on the one hand the circumstances under which the claimants possessed the property claimed in Portugal, as well as the burdens resulting therefrom, and especially the fact that they had introduced capital into that country, and on the other hand that it was not the intention of the Government of the Portuguese Republic to seek in the seizure of the said property a source of pecuniary gain, any more than it had been the intention of the claimants to violate the respect due to the laws and institutions of Portugal. Under these circumstances, the Tribunal observed that the settlement of the claims, subject of the present arbitration, included in the pronouncement of the award appears as just and equitable and of a nature to satisfy the respective legitimate expectations of the parties, such that all claims ... are declared definitely settled and in future extinguished.

In accordance with this settlement, the Portuguese Government could retain as proprietor all the property seized with reservation with regard to a chapel and a boarding school for young girls, claimed by the French nationals; furthermore the Portuguese Government had to pay a lump sum to the claimants which bore interest at the rate of 6% per annum, the legal rate of interest in Portugal. The Tribunal also settled the payment of the debts encumbering the real estate seized. One of the French claims was rejected as inadmissible because the French nationality of the claimant was not established.

In the case of the Spanish claims, nineteen separate awards were rendered, pursuant to the submission agreement. In seventeen cases, the Portuguese Government objected that the nationals of Spain had not produced evidence of their nationality. The Tribunal declared all these claims to be inadmissible taking into account that it is charged ... to render judgment upon claims relative to the property of nationals of Spain, France, Great Britain, but, whereas, the claimant does not prove in the manner prescribed by the Spanish Civil Code and the Portuguese Civil Code that he belongs to one of the aforementioned nationalities. Furthermore, one claimant had renounced his claim and the other one could not furnish any proof of ownership of the real estate claimed.

Case information