Author: Otto Sandrock*
Published: January 2013
Description: This article seeks to pay tribute to Hans Smit, a distinguished and highly recognized international lawyer and personal friend of the author. Hans Smit often mentioned that he was of Dutch origin and joked that he had never left the Netherlands since he still lived on Amsterdam Avenue. This witty remark is also a poignant one. Dutch lawyers have for centuries rendered most significant contributions to the development of international law all over the globe. Hans Smit, though living in New York City for most of his professional life, belongs to this line of Dutch-born, most eminent international lawyers.
I. INTRODUCTION
International arbitration – partly in the form of so-called Mixed Claims Commissions – was greatly en vogue in past centuries when the international debts of sovereigns had to be restructured. That has changed. Modern international restructuring regimes normally disregard international arbitration, …
*Emeritus of the Law School of the University of Muenster; attorney in Duesseldorf; of counsel at Orrick Hoelters & Elsing in Duesseldorf. The English text of my manuscript was thoroughly revised by Ian Johnson, Esq., one of my partners at Orrick, to whom I wish to express my deepest gratitutde.