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314 U.S. 510

62 S. Ct. 373

86 L. Ed. 379

Ex Parte Colonna No - Original Submitted on Motion for Leave to File Dec 8 1941

Supreme Court of the United States

Decided Jan. 5, 1942.

Supreme Court of the United States · decided 1942-01-05

1 counsel of record

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“This provision [Section 7(b)] was inserted in the act in the light of the principle recognized by Congress and by this Court that war suspends the right of enemy plaintiffs to prosecute actions in our courts.”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including 42 Cal. 2d 848 - Hayashi v. Lorenz, Farbenfabriken Bayer A. G. v. Sterling Drug, Inc.

“... nothing in this act shall be deemed to authorize the prosecution of any suit or action at law or in equity in any court within the United States by an enemy or ally of enemy prior to the end of the war. ...”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 42 Cal. 2d 848 - Hayashi v. Lorenz

Relies on Hanger v. Abbott · Caperton v. Bowyer · W. Witmark Sons v. . Hall-Berwin Corporation

Cited in Case Law’s definition of “enemy plaintiff”

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Petition denied / appeal dismissed · 8–0 · Opinion by Per Curiam · Decided 1942-01-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 113 later decisions (14 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 1982 · most notably Banco Nacional De Cuba v. Sabbatino (1964), Johnson v. Eisentrager (1950)

26 federal appellate · 11 district · 22 state decisions

64019421950196019701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Mr. Homer L. Loomis, of New York City, for petitioner.

PER CURIAM.

¶1

Petitioner, the Royal Italian Ambassador, seeks leave to file in this Court a petition for writs of prohibition and mandamus, directed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The basis of this application is petitioner's allegation that a vessel and its cargo of oil, the subject of litigation in the District Court and now in its possession, are the property of the Italian Government and are entitled to the benefit of Italy's immunity from suit · Case Law">sovereign immunity from suit.

¶2

After the motion was filed, there occurred on December 11, 1941, the declaration that the United States is at war with Italy. Section 2(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 40 Stat. 411, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 2(b), defines 'enemy' to include the government of any nation with which the United States is at war. Section 7(b) contains the following provision, 40 Stat. at page 417: 'Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to authorize the prosecution of any suit or action at law or in equity in any court within the United States by an enemy or ally of enemy prior to the end of the war, except as provided in section ten hereof (which relates to patent, trademark and copyright suits) … And provided further, That an enemy or ally of enemy may defend by counsel any suit in equity or action at law which may be brought against him.'

¶3

This provision was inserted in the act in the light of the principle recognized by Congress and by this Court that war suspends the right of enemy plaintiffs to prosecute actions in our courts. See S.Repts. No. 111 and 113, pp. 21, 24, 65th Cong., 1st Sess.; Caperton v. Bowyer, 14 Wall. 216, 236, 20 L.Ed. 882; Hanger v. Abbott, 6 Wall. 532, 536, 537, 539, 18 L.Ed. 939; Masterson v. Howard, 18 Wall. 99, 105, 21 L.Ed. 764; Porter v. Freudenberg, 1915, 1 K.B. 857, 866-880. In view of the statute and the opinions in the cases cited, the application will not be entertained. Cf. Rothbarth v. Herzfeld, 179 App.Div. 865, 867—869, affirmed 223 N.Y. 578, 119 N.E. 1075.

¶4

Motion for leave to file denied.

¶5

Mr. Justice ROBERTS took no part in the decision of this application.

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