Silesian-american Corp. et al. v. Clark, Attorney General, As Successor to the Alien Property Custodian (332 U.S. 469)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 8, 1947 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 332 U.S. 469 · 68 S. Ct. 179
- Docket
- No. 6
- Argued
- May 1, 1947; reargued November 12, 1947
- Decided
- December 8, 1947
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed (wrote), Justice Black, Justice Rutledge, Justice Murphy
Opinion excerpt
Me. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court. The Alien Property Custodian on November 17, 1942, executed Vesting Order No. 370. This order was issued under the authority of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 40 Stat. 411, as amended, and Executive Order No. 9095, as amended, and in terms vested the property therein described in the Alien Property Custodian in the interest and for the benefit of the United States. The order found the property to belong to a national of Germany. The property covered by the order was two blocks of stock — one common, one preferred — in the Silesian American Corporation, a Delaware corporation, hereinafter called Silesian. The stock, prior to August 31, 1939, stood in the stock book of Silesian in the name of Non Ferrum Gesellschaft zur Finanzierung von Unternehmungen des Bergbaues und der Industrie der Nichteisenmetalle, Zurich, Switzerland, a Swiss corporation, hereinafter referred to as the Non Ferrum Company. Non Ferrum, it was determined by the Custodian’s order, held the stock for the benefit of Bergwerksgesellschaft Georg von Giesche’s Erben, a German corporation. The certificates, it is asserted, had been deposited as security for loans with a group of banks, all of which apparently were chartered by Switzerland and are hereinafter referred to as the Swiss Banks. To carry out the purpose of his vesting order, the Custodian directed…
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