Dorra v Caisse Fraternelle

• Jurisdiction: Marruecos
• Date: 15 March 1938
• Court: Court of Appeal (Morocco)
• Docket Number: 121

France, Court of Appeal of Rabat (Morocco).

Case No. 121

Dorra

and

Caisse Fraternelle de Capitalisation.

Treaties — Operation of — Absence of Retroactive Effect — Abolition of Régime of Capitulations by Franco-British Convention of July 29, 1937.

The Facts.—In 1937, at a time when the régime of capitulations was still in force in Morocco, the President of the French Court at Rabat had been seised of a claim against Dorra, a British subject. The régime was abrogated by the Franco-British Convention signed at London on July 29, 1937, which came into force on January 1, 1938. The President, in delivering his judgment after January 1, 1938, had assumed jurisdiction in reliance on the abolition of the capitulations. Dorra appealed.

Held: that the appeal must succeed.

“The Convention signed at London on July 29, 1937, abolishing the régime of capitulations in Morocco, was not to, and did not effectively, come into force before January 1, 1938. Hence a British subject can successfully claim that...