that the precedent now established strikes a dangerous and immoral blow
at the security of private property everywhere. This is an exaggeration,
and the sharp distinction, approved by custom and convention during the
past two centuries, between the property and rights of a State and the
property and rights of its nationals is an artificial one, which is
being rapidly put out of date by many other influences than the Peace
Treaty, and is inappropriate to modern socialistic conceptions of the
relations between the State and its citizens. It is true, however, that
the Treaty strikes a destructive blow at a conception which lies at the
root of much of so-called international law, as this has been expounded
hitherto.

The principal provisions relating to the expropriation of German private
property situated outside the frontiers of Germany, as these are now
determined, are overlapping in their incidence, and the more drastic
would seem in some cases to render the others unnecessary. Generally
speaking, however, the more drastic and extensive provisions are not so
precisely framed as those of more particular and limited application.
They are as follows:--

(_a_) The Allies "reserve the right to retain and liquidate all
property, rights and interests belonging at the date of the coming into
force of the present Treaty to German nationals, or companies controlled
by them, within their territories, colonies, possessions and
protectorates, including territories ceded to them by the present
Treaty."[21]

This is the extended version of the provision which has been discussed
already in the case of the colonies and of Alsace-Lorraine. The value of
the property so expropriated will be applied, in the first instance, to