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5 Int'l L. Update 1 (1999)

handle is hein.journals/intlwup5 and id is 1 raw text is: A monthly report on public and private international legal developments
International Law uydate
Editors: Professor John R. Schmertz, Jr., Georgetown University Law Center, and Mike Meier, Esq.

January 1999

January Highlights
 In civil action by finder against
Ferdinand Marcos for converting gold
plundered  and   buried  by   General
Yamashita in Philippines during World
War II, Supreme Court of Hawaii rules
on applicability of act of state defense
where defendant had argued that Marcos
had seized treasure for public purposes
(Page 1)
ow Where female passenger brings injury
case against foreign airline arising out of
intimate security search, U.S. Supreme
Court   decides   whether    Warsaw
Convention provides exclusive remedies
for accidental injuries arising in course of
international air travel (Page 3)
e Florida federal court rules, as matter of
first impression, on whether International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
bars United States from   prosecuting
persons already convicted for same crime
in another country (Page 6)
In suit against Libya arising out of Pan
Am    103  bombing, Second     Circuit
determines constitutionality of new FSIA
anti-terrorist provision that applies only
to nations that sponsor terrorism in view
of Executive Branch (Page 8)
ow U.S. Department of Commerce reports
on WTO Panel ruling in U.S.-Korea
dispute over U.S. antidumping measures
imposed on Korean semiconductors (Page
lO)

ACT OF STATE DOCTRINE
In civil action by finder against Ferdi-
nand Marcos for converting gold
plundered and buried by General Ya-
mashita in Philippines during World
War II, Hawai'ian Supreme Court
rejects act of state defense since
defendant failed to prove that Marcos
had seized treasure for other than
private purposes
While he was working as a locksmith in Ba-
guio City, the Philippines in 1961, Roger Do-
mingo Roxas ran into two individuals who
claimed to know where Japanese General Tomo-
yuki Yamashita had buried large amounts of gold
and other valuables looted from conquered
nations during World War II.
During 1970, after 7 months of digging near a
General Hospital, the Roxas team broke through
into tunnels where they found a one-ton golden
buddha statute and a thousand cubic feet of
boxes containing gold bars. To finance a more
complete exploration, Roxas sold some of the
gold bars and tried to sell the buddha.
In April 1971, men in military uniforms raided
Roxas' house, seizing the buddha, the diamonds,
and the gold bars. Roxas complained to Judge
Pio Marcos who said he had signed the warrant
on the orders of Ferdinand Marcos.
Two weeks later, three civilians again arrest-
ed Roxas. Later, soldiers unsuccessfully demand-
ed that Roxas sign a cooperation agreement. The
soldiers then tortured him with electric shocks,
burned him with cigarettes and beat him uncon-
scious. Roxas escaped, however, and told his

Vol. 5

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