Soviet Representation in Czechoslovakia Case
| Jurisdiction | Republica Checa |
| Docket Number | Case No. 44. |
| Date | 19 May 1925 |
| Court | Obsolete Court (Czechoslovakia) |
Recognition of Governments Recognition de facto When Restricted to Commercial Matters Diplomatic Representation for Commercial Purposes Whether Entitled to Represent the Sending State on Matters of Private Law.
The Facts.In connection with the Czechoslovak building law, the municipality of Prague intended to enter into negotiations with the view to repurchasing certain immovable property registered as property of the Russian State, or, failing that, to apply for expropriation of that property. For this purpose the municipality applied for the appointment of a trustee (curator) for the Russian State. The court of first instance complied with the request and appointed the curator.
This decision then came before the Court of Appeal upon an appeal of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Prague, who claimed the right to represent the Russian State in this matter. The Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the court of first instance by which the curator was appointed, but on appeal, the Supreme Court of Justice reversed, in turn, the decision of the Court of Appeal and by the decision of 6 May, 1924, No. R. I 319, summoned the Court of Appeal to deal first, before entering into the matter itself, with the question whether the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was entitled to lodge the appeal, i.e., to act before the courts in the present case.
By the decrees of 7 August, 1922, No. 258 and 259, the Provisional Treaty between the Czechoslovak Republic and the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic (R.S.F.S.R.) and the Provisional Treaty between the Czechoslovak Republic and the Ukranian Socialist Soviet Republic were put into force. According to these treaties a representative of these two Russian Republics was established in Czechoslovakia. As the stipulations of the Provisional Treaty did not seem to be decisive on the question of whether the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was entitled to act for the Russian State also in matters concerning purely private law, the Court of Appeal, retrying the case, was of opinion that the question must be decided in accordance with the municipal law of Russia.1 Upon inquiry at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, a letter from the Representative of the Czechoslovak Republic in Moscow of 13 January...
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