KRALJEVINA SHS – STARA ILI NOVA DRŽAVA - RASPRAVE VOĐENE 20-TIH GODINA POVODOM SUDSKOG SPORA IZMEĐU NEMAČKIH DRŽAVLJANA I KRALJEVINE SHS
THE KINGDOM OF THE SERBS, CROATS AND SLOVENES’ AN OLD STATE OR A NEW ONE

Summary/Abstract: The Treaty of Versailles, concluded at the end of the First World War, introduced a new term in international law, that of the "new state". The division of states into old and new was made in connection with the rights of certain countries to claim compensation for war damage. The old states from the group of (he "allied powers" were allowed to secure compensation for war damage in a number of ways, including that of liquidating the property of German citizens on their territory. The new states belonging to the same group did not have this right since they did not exist at the time of the war and, consequently, could not have suffered any damage as a result of it. In the event any of the new stales did liquidate the property of their German citizens the latter could seek help from the Joint Elective Court in Geneva. The Versailles Treaty did not, however, specify the names of the countries considered to be new. The government of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes thought their country belonged in the group of old stales and liquidated the property of German citizens on Yugoslav territory, while the German citizens, on the other hand, considered the kingdom to be a new stale and filed a complaint before the Court in Geneva. The Court ruled in favor of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Several eminent legal experts publicly expressed their opinion in the past in regard to this dispute and the essential question whether Yugoslavia was an old state or a new one. Opinions differed in regard to this question but they were quite unanimous in concluding that the decision of the Court in Geneva was just.

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