Latvian Ministry for Home Affairs v Former Russian Red Cross

• Court: Senate (Latvia)
• Docket Number: Case No. 314
• Date: 28 April 1927

Senate of Latvia.

Case No. 314

Latvian Ministry for Home Affairs

and

Former Russian Red Cross Association.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION AND ADMINISTRATION

International Red Gross — National Branches — Position of — Russian Red Cross.

The Facts.—The Latvian Ministry for Home Affairs, acting on behalf of the State of Latvia, asked to be recognised as proprietor and successor to the property of the former Russian Red Cross (apparently the defendant), there being no other successor to the said property. The Court of Justice having granted the request, the defendant appealed to the Senate.

Held by the Senate: That the decision of the Court of Justice should be affirmed. “Red Cross Associations are of public character and should be considered persons of public law. The Russian Red Cross constituted a person of public law of the Russian State of the Tsarist period, and it undoubtedly lost its legal basis after the Russian Empire had suffered dismemberment. The Russian Red Cross could only have conserved its legal basis if it could be proved that it became in due time an international institution, such as the Latvian Red Cross is, in view of its statutes of 1919 and 1927 and of the adherence1 of Latvia to the Geneva and Hague Conventions for...