Slovakia (Occupation) Case

• Jurisdiction: Hungria
• Date: 30 March 1933
• Docket Number: 232
• Court: Supreme Court (Hungary)

Hungary, Supreme Court.

Case No.232

Slovakia (Occupation) Case.

Occupation of Enemy Territory — Legislative Functions of the Occupant — Occupation by virtue of an Armistice — Occupation of Upper Hungary (Slovakia) by the Czechoslovak Troops in November 1918 — Czechoslovak Legislation in Occupied Territories prior to the Peace Treaty.

The Facts.—Plaintiff, formerly of Hungarian nationality, had become a Czechoslovak citizen as a consequence of the Treaty of Trianon by virtue of which parts of Hungary were ceded to Czechoslovakia. After the town of Pozsony (Bratislava) in Hungary had been occupied by Czech troops but before the Treaty of Peace came into force, he entered into marriage there with the defendant. The marriage was concluded before a Roman Catholic priest without the participation of civil authorities. This was done in accordance with the Marriage Law which the Czechoslovak Government introduced in the occupied territory before the Peace Treaty entered into force. Subsequently the plaintiff reacquired Hungarian citizenship. He then brought a petition before the Courts of Hungary asking that his marriage should be declared invalid on the ground that at the time of the conclusion of his marriage in the occupied territory the Hungarian marriage law was still in force. According to Hungarian law the State recognised only such marriages as were concluded before the competent civil authority, namely, the Registrar of Marriages.

Held: that the marriage in question was valid. The Court said: “According to the accepted rules of international law, the territory of Hungary occupied by the Czechs was, until the day of the coming into force of the Treaty of Trianon, constitutionally part of Hungary, while the occupying troops were bound to secure public order and community life on the basis of Article 43 of Part III of Convention No. IV. concluded at the Second Peace Conference of The Hague. This laid down that the occupant is bound to respect the laws in force in the occupied territory. The Czechoslovak State, which arose as an outcome of the war, did not wait until the coming into force of the...