Word: debtors
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...permit the seizure of land under the six conditions named, we must permit the taking of land where there is a valid claim against a South American state which refuses to arbitrate. For otherwise we would put a penalty upon arbitration and a premium upon non-arbitration, as the debtor state would keep away from the Hague tribunal...
Wagner began the debate and said in part: Under the presupposed facts of the question, a South American state has repudiated a just obligation which it owed to a European government. The creditor state has acted fairly and consented to arbitrate its claim. The debtor state has acted of its own free will in consenting to the Hague tribunal as a referee, and is in honor bound to accept the decision. We must presume that this decision was just, and that it set a reasonable time within which the South American country could have collected the sum and paid...
...moment of final default, the award of the Hague tribunal must stand as a judgment. It means immediate satisfaction at that time, and anything less would be an overthrow of the judgment. A nation should have the same right of recoupment out of a debtor's property that a judgment creditor has at common law. In international law seizure of land is recognized as a legal means. In the case tonight the creditor has chosen this immediate means of obtaining satisfaction under the award, and, between the two countries involved, this will be a just proceeding...
...supporting this doctrine of temporary suspension we not only do justice to an honest European creditor; we also greatly benefit the South American debtor. These states according to practically all authorities are exceedingly lax in meeting their financial obligations; by threatening them with the loss of part of their territory as punishment for their laxity, we should teach them national responsibility. We should teach them, moreover, to respect the principles of arbitration, and they will learn that to consent to arbitration implies an obligation to abide by the award...
...does not prevent the creditor nation from levying a tariff. This tariff might be imposed by the creditor nation, or by a trustee. In China, an Englishman, Sir Robert Hart, acting as trustee, has for many years successfully administered a tariff. This method would be effective even if the debtor state had no money at the time of default. The fact that a country has no tariff today is no reason why a tariff should not be imposed tomorrow...