Nottebohm case (Liechtenstein v. Guatemala) [1955] (PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW)

Nottebohm case (Liechtenstein v. Guatemala) [1955]

FACTS:

Friedrich Nottebohm was born September 16, 1881, in Hamburg, Germany. In 1905, he moved to Guatemala, where he went into business in trade, banking, and plantations with his brothers. Nottebohm would live in Guatemala until 1943 as a permanent resident without ever acquiring Guatemalan citizenship.

In 1939, Nottebohm visited Liechtenstein, and on October 9, 1939, shortly after World War II began, he applied for citizenship. His application was approved and he9 became a citizen. Under German law, he lost his German citizenship. In January 1940, he returned to Guatemala on a Liechtenstein passport and informed the local government of his change of nationality.

Guatemala formally declared war on Germany on December 11, 1941. In spite of his Liechtenstein citizenship, the Guatemalan government treated Nottebohm as a German citizen. Nottebohm was arrested by the Guatemalan government as an enemy alien in 1943, handed over to a US military base, and transferred to the US, where he was interned until 1946. The Guatemalan government confiscated all his property in the country, and the US government also seized his company's assets in the US. 

In 1951, the Liechtenstein government, acting on behalf of Nottebohm, brought suit against Guatemala in the International Court of Justice for what it argued was unjust treatment of him and the illegal confiscation of his property. However, the government of Guatemala argued that Nottebohm did not gain Liechtenstein citizenship for the purposes of international law. The court agreed and so stopped the case from continuing.

ISSUE:

Whether Nottebohm is Liechtenstein citizen and entitled to diplomatic protection.

RULING:

Although the Court stated that it is the sovereign right of all states to determine its own citizens and criteria for becoming one in municipal law, such a process would have to be internationally scrutinized if the question is of diplomatic protection. The Court upheld the principle of effective nationality (the Nottebohm principle): the national must prove a meaningful connection to the state in question. That principle had previously been applied only in cases of dual nationality to determine the nationality that should be used in a given case. The court ruled that Nottebohm's naturalization as a citizen of Liechtenstein had not been based on any genuine link with that country, but for the sole purpose of enabling him to replace his status as the national of a belligerent state with that of a neutral state in a time of war. The Court held that Liechtenstein was not entitled to take up his case and put forward an international claim on his behalf against Guatemala:^[4][5]