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4 Phil. Int'l L.J. 71 (1965)
Diplomatic Protection of Shareholders in International Law

handle is hein.journals/philinlj4 and id is 75 raw text is: DIPLOMATIC PROTECTION OF SHARE- HOLDERS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW EDUARDO JIMENEZ DE ARECHAGA * The question whether a State may exercise diplomatic and judi- cial protection on behalf of its nationals, shareholders in a foreign corporation, is now at issue before the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Co., Ltd. In those proceedings, Belgium is seeking reparation from Spain for damage claimed to have been caused to a number of Belgian nat- ionals, said to be shareholders in the Barcelona Traction Co., a com- pany constituted under Canadian law, by the conduct, alleged to have been contrary to International Law, of various organs of the Spanish State in relation to that company. Spain presented a preliminary objection denying the ius standi of Belgium in the proceedings and its legal capacity to protect the Belgian interests on behalf of which it claims, on the basis that the acts complained of took place, not in relation to any Belgian natural or juristic person but to the Barcelona Traction Co., which is a juris- tic entity registered in Canada. Spain contends that International Law does not recognize in respect of injury caused by a State to a foreign company any diplomatic or judicial protection of sharehold- ers exercised by a State other than the national State of the Com- pany. Belgium, for its part, contests the view of international law thus put forward, and asserts its right to intervene on behalf of Belgian nationals, shareholders in the Barcelona Traction Co. The Court did not pass upon the important question of law thus raised by one of the Spanish preliminary objections, but decided, by nine votes to seven, to join this preliminary objection to the merits.' A separate opinion of the Vice President of the Court, Judge Wellington Koo, deals however with the substance of the question of diplomatic and judicial protection of shareholders under internation- al law, reaching an affirmative conclusion.2 * Professor of International Law, Montevideo University Law School; Mem- ber, International Law Commission. 1 I.C.J. REPORTS 47, 1964. 2 Id. at 51 et seq.

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