417.00/342
The Chargé in Nicaragua (Hanna) to
the Secretary of State
Managua, August 2, 1929.
[Received August
7.]
No. 1100Sir: With reference to the Legation’s despatch
No. 1072 of July 11, 1929, and to its telegram No. 207 of July 30, 3
p.m., I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of the Presidential
Decree of July 30, 1929, establishing a Provisional Claims Commission,
as published in La Gaceta of July 31, 1929, as
well as a copy and translation of the Foreign Office’s note No. 157 of
July 31, 1929,93
transcribing a Presidential Decree dated July 31, 1929, appointing Mr.
J. S. Stanley President of the Commission.
Paragraph sixteen of the draft submitted to the Department is omitted in
the published decree. This paragraph provided for the naming of the
members within the decree itself but it was omitted principally because
the Liberal party at the time the decree was
[Page 689]
published had not nominated its candidates for the
Commission. The salary of the secretary of the Commission has been
increased from one hundred cordobas to two hundred cordobas monthly. The
above are the only two changes from the draft decree submitted to the
Department. In the second line of Paragraph two there is a typographical
error. “5 de diciembre” should obviously read “3 de diciembre”.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure—Translation94]
Decree of July 30, 1929, Establishing a
Provisional Claims Commission
The President of the
Republic,
In use of the general powers conferred on him by articles 190 and
111, No. 36 of the Constitution, and considering:
That the Claims Commission created by the law of December 5 [3], 1926, cannot be reconvened, among other
reasons because the appointee of the Department of State of the
United States of America on the High Commission is prevented from
forming part of that tribunal because he is in charge of the office
of Collector General of Customs, and because the work of said
tribunal requires his entire attention to the exclusion of all other
employment or office;
That it is indispensable to delay no further in receiving and
studying the claims against the State, originating during the last
civil war, in order to establish their total amount and consider the
form of payment and the funds available for that purpose;
That in order to give foreign claimants the best guarantee of
impartiality and justice and to carry out the evident intention of
the law of December 3, 1926, referred to, the presence of an
American judge on the tribunal who will concur with his vote in
rendering decisions is necessary; taking advantage of the assistance
offered Nicaragua by the Government of the United States of
America,
Decrees:
- Article 1. There is established in
the capital of the Republic a Provisional Claims Tribunal or
Commission which shall receive and take cognizance of all claims
for exactions, requisitions, war damages and other obligations
not liquidated and pending against the Government of Nicaragua
as a consequence of the civil war, from October 25, 1925, until
the date when the Executive shall declare the country officially
at peace.
- Article 2. The claims presented to
the Commission created by the law of December 3, 1926, shall be
received and passed upon by the
[Page 690]
Provisional Commission without necessity
of a second presentation by the interested parties.
- Article 3. The Provisional Claims
Commission shall be made up of three members: One from the
Conservative Party, another from the Nationalist Liberal Party,
and another who shall act as President and who shall be an
American citizen named by the President of the Republic, after
nomination by the Department of State of the United States of
America. The President of the Republic will name the Nicaraguan
members.
- The Commission shall meet not later than 60 days following the
publication of this decree in the Diario
Oficial.
- Article 4. The Provisional
Commission shall cease in its functions as soon as the Congress
of the Republic enacts a new organic law of the Claims
Commission; but it shall not have the right to continue
functioning longer than 18 months from the date of its first
meeting. Within this time all the claims of which cognizance has
been taken should be passed upon.
- Article 5. The decisions of the
Commission shall be made by the three members, each one having
the obligation to give and explain his respective vote. The
tribunal shall decide by a majority vote, but no decision shall
be valid unless it is concurred in by the American member of the
Commission.
- Article 6. For the study and
decision of claims, the Commission shall proceed with the powers
of arbitrators or friendly mediators.
- Article 7. The Commission is
authorized to formulate its rules and regulations of procedure
or to adopt those of the Commission created by the law of
December 3, 1926. The said rules shall be published in the Diario Oficial and the tribunal shall
begin to function 10 days after their publication. The claims
shall be presented according to the requirements of the rules,
without prejudice to the requirements of article 2 of this
decree.
- Article 8. Nicaraguan citizens and
juridical persons, and foreign societies or corporations and
citizens or subjects, shall have equal rights, without any
exception, to present themselves before the Provisional
Commission, whether they be inhabitants of the territory of the
Republic or not. Claimants who do not present their claims
within six months from the date on which the Executive shall
have officially declared the peace, shall not have the right to
do so later and shall lose the right to all judicial and
extrajudicial indemnification.
- Article 9. There shall be considered
among the claims against the State exactions, requisitions and
war damages caused by both sides in the last civil war, as well
as those caused by acts of banditry in all the territory of the
Republic. But the benefits of this decree shall
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not accrue to foreign societies,
citizens or subjects who have taken part in the civil war or in
acts of banditry.
- The Commission is also authorized to receive and pass upon,
within the period established, claims for personal injuries
which foreign citizens or subjects may have suffered, provided
they have not taken part directly or indirectly in the civil war
or acts of banditry.
- Article 10. The Nicaraguan members
of the tribunal shall receive a salary of 300 cordobas monthly;
and there shall be paid to the American member, as salary and
for his expenses of installing himself and of his stay in
Nicaragua, the sum to be fixed by the President of the Republic
in agreement with the Department of State of the United States
of America; but in no case shall the said sum exceed 10,000
cordobas annually.
- Article 11. The secretary of the
Commission shall be a Nicaraguan, named by it, and he shall
receive a monthly salary of 200 cordobas. The Commission shall
have available 4,000 cordobas annually for office expenses and
investigations, in the form prescribed in the respective
rules.
- Article 12. Claimants shall not have
the right to be members of the Commission. Members of the
Commission shall not have the right to take cognizance of the
claims of their relatives within the fourth degree of
consanguinity and the second degree of affinity; and when one of
them is inhibited for this reason, the American member shall
have double vote.
- Article 13. All members of the
tribunal shall remain in the capital on all working days without
absenting themselves therefrom except for justifiable cause. In
case any member absents himself persistently and without good
cause, or for any reason shall be incapacitated for the
fulfillment of his duties, the members who attend shall notify
the Executive power to this effect, and the latter will proceed
immediately to name the person to replace him.
- Article 14. The Treasury shall be
represented before the tribunal by one or more lawyers named by
the President of the Republic, and these lawyers shall be given
hearings and opportunity to examine documents under the law.
They shall receive a salary of 150 cordobas monthly each.
- Article 15. The decisions of the
Provisional Commission created by the present decree shall not
constitute a judgment or obligation of the State until the
Congress of the Republic so directs upon enacting the new
organic law of the Claims Commission.
- Article 16. The present decree shall
go into effect upon its publication in the Diario Oficial.
Done at the Casa Presidencial, in
the city of Managua, on the 30th day of July,
1929. J. M. Moncada—The
Minister of Hacienda—Antonio
Barberena.
