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Case Summary
Stroganoff-Scherbatoff v. Weldon
Stroganoff-Scherbatoff v. Weldon, 420 F. Supp. 18 (S.D.N.Y. 1976).
Précis
George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, an heir to a Russian aristocratic family, sought the restitution of works of art nationalized by the Soviet government in the 1920s. The New York district court found that the
Act of State Doctrine
The principle that no nation can judge the legality of a foreign country's sovereign acts within its own territory. As originally formulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1897, the doctrine provides that “the courts of one country will not sit in judgment on the acts of the government of another done within its own territory.” Underhill v. Hernandez, 168 U.S. 250, 252 (1897). The Supreme Court later declared that though the Act of State Doctrine is compelled by neither international law nor the Constitution, it has “institutional underpinnings.” Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398, 423 (1964) (Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004)).
Act of State Doctrine barred his
conversion
A civil wrong (tort) in which one converts another's property to his own use; in other words, “stealing.” Conversion includes treating another's goods as one's own, holding onto such property which accidentally comes into the taker’s hands, or purposely giving the impression that the assets belong to the taker. This gives the true owner the right to sue for his own property or the value and loss of use of it, as well recourse to law enforcement authorities, since conversion usually includes the crime of theft (http://dictionary.law.com).
conversion claims against the works’ current owners.
Associated Legal Decision(s)
Associated Statutes and/or Legislation
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