Opinion ID: 151499
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Validation Law and 1953 Treaty

Text: The 1953 Treaty and Validation Law were part of the overall process of quelling uncertainty about, and facilitating the orderly settlement of, debts owed by territory that became West Germany after World War II, 1953 Treaty, 4 U.S.T. at 888. Specifically, the 1953 Treaty, to which West Germany, the United States, and various other Western Allied nations were signatories, incorporated by reference the 1952 Validation Law, see id., pursuant to which West Germany allegedly assumed liability for certain specified foreign currency bonds issued before the end of World War II, see Validation Law, BGBl.II, at 327, Schedule C.IV, and implemented a series of procedures to determine the validity of such bonds and to screen out invalid ones. The Agricultural Bonds, the category of bonds at issue in this case, are included in the schedule of foreign currency bonds covered by the Validation Law, see id. at 327, Schedule C.IV (19), and therefore subject to the Validation Law's procedures, see id. at 306, Arts. 1-2. The Validation Law requires, inter alia, that the specified bonds held on January 1, 1945, outside West German borders as they existed in 1937, be registered, submitted along with relevant evidence, and validated after an administrative hearing by a Board for the Validation of German Bonds in the United States (Validation Board) in Germany or the country of offering. See id., at 306, Art. 3; id. at 407, Art. 8; id. at 310-11, Art. 23.