Volume 50 · 784
Public Law 75–758
Relative to determination and payment of certain claims against the Government of Mexico.
Approved August 25, 1937
Statutory text
JOINT RESOLUTION
Relative to determination and payment of certain claims against the Government of Mexico.
Whereas the Act entitled “An Act to establish a commission for the
Claims against the Government of Mexico.
Preamble.
settlement of the special claims comprehended within the terms of the convention between the United States of America and the United Mexican States concluded April 24, 1934”, approved April 10, 1935 (49 Stat. 149), provides for the establishment of the Special Mexican Claims Commission and confers upon that Commission jurisdiction to hear and determine all claims against the Republic of Mexico, notices of which were filed with the Special Claims Commission, United States and Mexico, established by a convention of September 10, 1923, in which the said Commission failed to award compensation, except such claims as may be found by the committee provided for in the Special Claims Convention of April 24, 1934, to be general claims and recognized as such by the General Claims Commission; and
Whereas the said Special Claims Convention of April 24, 1934, provides that the jurisdiction in and validity of the claims found by the said committee to be general claims shall be determined in each case when examined and adjudicated by the Commissioners or Umpire in accordance with the provisions of the General Claims
Convention of September 8, 1923, and the protocol of April 24, 1934, or the Special Claims Convention of September 10, 1923, and the protocol of June 18, 1932, in the event it shall be found by the Commissioners or Umpire to have been improperly eliminated from the special claims settlement; and
Whereas certain claims filed with the said Special Claims Commission, United States and Mexico, established by the said convention of September 10, 1923, were found by the said committee to be general claims but have not yet been the subject of any determination by the said General Claims Commission; and
Whereas the said Special Mexican Claims Commission, established
in pursuance of the said Act approved April 10, 1935, expires by the terms of the said Act on August 31, 1937; and
Whereas, by the terms of the protocol of April 24, 1934, between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, the said General Claims Commission expires on October 24, 1937, and the two Governments have undertaken, upon the basis of the joint report of the members of the said Commission, to conclude a convention for the final disposition of the claims pending before the said Commission, the said convention to take either the form of an agreement for an en-bloc settlement of the said claims or the form of an agreement for the disposition of the claims upon their individual merits by reference to an umpire; and
Whereas the committee provided for in the Special Claims Convention of April 24, 1934, found that the amount to be paid by the Government of Mexico in settlement of the special claims comprehended in that convention was $5,448,020.14, it being understood that the sum thus determined was susceptible of increase after express decision of the General Claims Commission in case the said Commission might decide to be within the jurisdicton 11 So in original. of the Special Commission any one or more of the claims which the said committee found to be general claims; and
Whereas the said Special Mexican Claims Commission, in the event that the total amount of the awards made by it upon all claims is greater than the amount which the Government of Mexico has agreed to pay to the Government of the United States in satisfaction of the claims, is required by the said Act approved April 10, 1935, to reduce the awards on a percentage basis to such amount; and
Whereas, in the circumstances set forth, it is not now possible to ascertain which, if any, of the claims found by the said committee to be general claims will be found by the said General Claims Commission to be special claims, nor what will be the amount of the total en-bloc settlement provided for in the said Special Claims Convention of April 24, 1934; and
Whereas payments on awards of the said Special Mexican Claims Commission from funds paid to the Government of the United States by the Government of Mexico under the Special Claims Convention of April 24, 1934, should not, in justice to the beneficiaries, be deferred until the question of the jurisdiction of the claims now pending before the General Claims Commission, by virtue of the classification of such claims as general claims by the joint committee, shall have been finally determined in the manner provided for in the said convention of April 24, 1934, or in the said protocol of the same date: Therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the jurisdiction of
Special Mexican Claims Commission, jurisdiction redefined.
the Special Mexican Claims Commission established in pursuance of the Act approved April 10, 1935 (49 Stat. 149), shall not be deemed to include any of the claims found by the committee provided for in the Special Claims Convention of April 24, 1934, to be general claims.
Sec. 2.
That for the purposes of the reduction of awards on a percentage
Basic amount of payment by Mexico.
basis as provided for in section 4 of the Act approved April 10, 1935 (49 Stat. 149), the amount which the Government of Mexico
has agreed to pay to the Government of the United States in satisfaction of the claims shall, subject to the provision in section 3 hereof, be deemed to be the sum of $5,448,020.14, set forth in the report of the said committee provided for in the said convention of April 24, 1934.
Sec. 3.
That, in the event of the reclassification as special claims
Action where general claims reclassified as special claims.
of any of the claims found by the said committee to be general claims, the claims so reclassified shall be passed upon by said Special Mexican Claims Commission during its existence and thereafter by a Commission to be established in conformity with the said Act of April 10, 1935, and the total amount payable by the Government of Mexico
Additional payments.
to the Government of the United States on account of the claims so reclassified, together with interest on all deferred payments under the Special Claims Convention of April 24, 1934, shall be added to the sum of $5,448,020.14 set forth in the report of the said committee. The total amount awarded by the Commission so established upon the claims so reclassified shall be added to the total amount of the original awards made by the Special Mexican Claims Commission, and any necessary readjustment of the awards of the Special Mexican Claims Commission and those that may be made by the Commission to be established pursuant to this section shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury on the basis prescribed by section 4 of the Act approved April 10, 1935.
Sec. 4.
Upon the certification to the Secretary of the Treasury
Payment of swards.
of the awards of the Special Mexican Claims Commission, he shall proceed to make payments as provided for in section 9 of the Act approved April 10, 1935; and upon the certification to the Secretary of the Treasury of awards upon any claims reclassified as special claims he shall, after making the readjustments provided for in section 3 of this resolution, accord priority of payment on such awards until the beneficiaries thereof shall have been placed upon an equal percentage basis as to payments with the beneficiaries of awards of the Special Mexican Claims Commission.
Sec. 5.
Section 6 of the Act approved April 10, 1935, creating the
Special Mexican Claims Commission, and for other purposes, is amended to read as follows:
“Sec. 6.
The Commission shall complete its work within three years
Duration of Commission extended.
Ante, p. 771.
from the date on which it undertakes the performance of its duties, at which time all powers, rights, and duties conferred by this Act upon the Commission shall terminate. If the President finds the
Termination prior to expiration date.
Commission has completed its work prior to such expiration date, he may terminate all such powers, rights, and duties of the Commission by Executive order.”
Approved, August 25, 1937.