458.11 Dexter and Carpenter,
Inc./82
The Minister in Sweden (Morehead) to the Acting Secretary of
State
Stockholm, July 23, 1931.
[Received August
5.]
No. 305Sir: With further reference to the Department’s
instruction No. 54 of May 13, 1931, relating to the claim of Dexter and
Carpenter, Incorporated, an American corporation, against the Swedish
State Rail-, ways and in confirmation of my telegram No. 20 of July 22
[21], 5 p.m.,10 I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy
and translation of a communication received from the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, dated July 18, 1931, in reply to my note No. 100 of
June 9th last10
informing me that the Swedish Government, to its regret, cannot see its
way clear to inviting the Administration of the Swedish State Railways
to pay a court judgment rendered against it and in favor of Dexter and
Carpenter, Incorporated.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure—Translation]
The Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Ramel)
to the American Minister (Morehead)
Stockholm, July 18, 1931.
Mr. Minister: By letter of June 9th last
you invited my attention to the judgment rendered by an American
tribunal condemning the Royal Administration of the State Railways
to pay to Dexter and Carpenter, Incorporated, damages amounting to
$411,203.72 plus 6% interest from April 25, 1928. In the same letter
you likewise expressed the hope of seeing this matter, now that it
has been brought to the attention of the Swedish Government through
diplomatic channels, settled by the payment of the above mentioned
amount.
In reply to this communication I have the honor to inform you as
follows.
The Administration of the Swedish State Railways, to whom the above
letter has been communicated, states that, according to the
[Page 1015]
regulations governing
its activities, it believes that it is neither authorized nor
obligated, in the absence of a judgment rendered by a Swedish court
and which has received force from the thing judged, to satisfy any
claims other than those which are clear and incontestable and that
it cannot consider the claim in question as fulfilling this
condition. It maintains, besides, that, according to Swedish law and
in the absence of any expressly formulated convention contrary
thereto, judgments rendered by foreign tribunals are not executory
in Sweden. A Swedish private person domiciled in Sweden, whom a
foreign tribunal condemns to effect a payment, is not consequently
bound to execute it, excepting when a new action pleaded in Sweden
before a Swedish tribunal leads to the same judgment. The
Administration of the Swedish State Railways does not believe that
it can adopt a point of view in this regard other than one which
would apply to any private Swedish enterprise whatsoever and even
less in the present case inasmuch as the question of determining
whether the demand of the firm Dexter & Carpenter is justified
depends upon the interpretation to be given to a contract made in
Sweden between the Administration and a Swedish Company, Beijer
& Company, having its seat in Sweden, a contract the effect of
which with respect to a third party, in this case the firm Dexter
& Carpenter, with which the Swedish Company in turn made a
contract, cannot be determined excepting by Swedish law. It can only
then invite the firm Dexter & Carpenter eventually to institute
an action before the Swedish courts.
The Swedish Government shares the viewpoint of the Administration of
the State Railways. And to the considerations which the latter has
set forth it desires to add the following. In the case under
consideration it had invoked against the competence of the American
courts an exception deriving from the immunity by which the above
Administration should benefit in its quality as an organ of the
Swedish State. This exception was not admitted, it is true, during
the course of the action, by reason of the fact that it would not
have been opposed under the conditions required by the internal
rules of procedure fixed by American jurisprudence. But the courts
of the United States have recognized in principle that in
international law and according to American jurisprudence, the
Administration of the Swedish State Railways enjoys immunity. In
this fact also the Swedish Government perceives a reason for not
accepting as final the judgment rendered by the American courts
against this Administration.
For the reasons set forth above, the Swedish Government, to its
regret, cannot see its way clear to inviting the Administration in
question to pay the sum which the American court has condemned it to
pay, and can only advise the firm Dexter & Carpenter to
formulate
[Page 1016]
a demand
before the Swedish courts. Any judgment which they may render will
be obligatory for the above administration.
Please accept [etc.]
