About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

26 Brit. Y.B. Int'l L. 259 (1949)
Money in Public International Law

handle is hein.journals/byrint26 and id is 267 raw text is: MONEY IN PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW By F. A. MANN, LL.D. (LOND.) Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature FOR some considerable time it has been obvious that there exists what may be termed an international law of money. A number of writers have given their attention to it., They have done important and, indeed, indispensable spade-work. Regarding money primarily as an object of international organization they have collected and presented the facts relating to the international aspects of money, explained their regulation by treaties, stated the form and the frame. Such descriptive treatment has largely, though by no means entirely, neglected the core of the peculiarly legal problem which has to be faced. It lies in the elucidation and the develop- ment of rules of a substantive international law of money. These will be discussed in the following pages. State sovereignty over money, its ambit and limitation (Part I), the right of protection enjoyed by the members of the family of nations in respect of their currency systems (Part II), and the law of monetary obligations subject to public international law (Part III) are the principal topics which at present would seem to require investigation. I Money is an institution of municipal law. It is the product of the 'jus cudendae monetae belonging to the supreme power in every state',z The state's undeniable sovereignty over its currency is traditionally recognized by public international law; to the power granted by municipal law there corresponds an international right to the exercise of which other states cannot, as a rule, object. As the Permanent Court of International Justice has said,3 'it is indeed a generally accepted principle that a state is entitled to regulate its own currency'. Money, like tariffs or taxation or the admission of aliens, is one of those matters which prima facie must be considered as falling essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of states (Art. 2 (7) of the Charter of the United Nations). It follows that a state which changes and, in particular, depreciates its currency or restricts its I Nolde, 'La Monnaie en droit international public', in Recueil des Cours de l'Acadinuie de Droit International, 27 (1929), p. 247; Griziotti, 'L'volution montaire dans le monde depuis la guerre de 1914', ibid. 49 (1934), P. 7; Gutzwiller, Der Geltungsbereich der Wahrungsvorschriften (1940), pp. 78-92; Nussbaum, 'International Monetary Agreements', in American Journal of International Law, 38 (1944), p. 242. 2 Per Lord Campbell in Emperor of Austria v. Day (186i), 3 De G.F. & J. 217, at p. 234. Serbian and Brazilian Loan Cases: Publications of the Court, Series A, Nos. 20/2 i, at p. 44.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most