which the instrument should have been protested, has elapsed during the war, and the party who should have presented or protested the instrument or have given notice of non-acceptance or non-payment has failed to do so during the war, a period of not less than three months from the coming into force of the present Treaty shall be allowed within which presentation, notice of nonacceptance or non-payment or protest may be made.

ARTICLE 254.

Judgments given by the Courts of an Allied or Associated Power in all cases which, under the persent Treaty, they are competent to decide, shall be recognised in Austria as final, and shall be enforced without it being necessary to have them declared executory.

If a judgment or measure of execution in respect of any dispute which may have arisen has been given during the war by a judicial authority of the former Austrian Empire against a national of an Allied or Associated Power, or a company or association in which one of such nationals was interested, in a case in which either such national or such company or association was not able to make their defence, the Allied and Associated national who has suffered prejudice thereby shall be entitled to recover compensation to be fixed by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal provided for in Section VI.

At the instance of the national of the Allied or Associated Power the compensation above-mentioned may, upon order to that effect of the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal, be effected where it is possible by replacing the parties in the situation which they occupied before the judgment was given by the Austrian Court.

The above compensation may likewise be obtained before the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal by the nationals of Allied or Associated Powers who have suffered prejudice by judicial measures taken in invaded or occupied territories, if they have not been otherwise compensated.

ARTICLE 255.

For the purpose of Sections III, IV, V and VII, the expression “during the war'' means for each Allied or Associated Power the period between the

commencement of the state of war between that Power and the former AustroHungarian Monarchy and the coming into force of the present Treaty.

ANNEX.

I. General Provisions.

1.

Within the meaning of Articles 251, 252, and 253, the parties to a contract shall be regarded as enemies when trading between them shall have been prohibited by or otherwise became unlawful under laws, orders or regulations to which one of those parties was subject. They shall be deemed to have become enemies from the date when such trading was prohibited or otherwise became unlawful.

2.

The following classes of contracts are excepted from dissolution by Article 251 and, without prejudice to the rights contained in Article 249 (b) of Section IV, remain in force subject to the application of domestic laws, orders or regulations made during the war by the Allied and Associated Powers and subject to the terms of the contracts :

(a) Contracts having for their object the transfer of estates or of real or personal property where the property therein had passed or the object had been delivered before the parties became enemies;

(b) Leases and agreements for leases of land and houses;

(c) Contracts of mortgage, pledge, or lien;

(d) Concessions concerning mines, quarries or deposits;

(e) Contracts between individuals or companies and States, provinces, municipalities, or other similar juridical persons charged with administrative functions, and concessions granted by States, provinces, municipalities, or other similar juridical persons charged with administrative functions.

3.

If the provisions of a contract are in part dissolved under Article 251, the remaining provisions of that contract shall, subject to the same application of

domestic laws as is provided for in paragraph 2, continue in force if they are severable, but where they are not severable the contract shall be deemed to have been dissolved in its entirety.

II. Provisions relating to certain classes of Contracts.

STOCK EXCHANGE AND COMMERCIAL EXCHANGE CONTRACTS.

4.

(a) Rules made during the war by any recognised Exchange or Commercial Association providing for the closure of contracts entered into before the war by an enemy are confirmed by the High Contracting Parties, as also any action. taken thereunder, provided:

(i.) That the contract was expressed to be made subject to the rules of the Exchange or Association in question;

(ii.) That the rules applied to all persons concerned;

(iii.) That the conditions attaching to the closure were fair and reasonable. (b) The preceding paragraph shall not apply to rules made during the occupation by Exchanges or Commercial Associations in the districts occupied by the enemy.

(c) The closure of contracts relating to cotton "futures," which were closed as on July 31, 1914, under the decision of the Liverpool Cotton Association, is also confirmed.

SECURITY.
5.

The sale of a security held for an unpaid debt owing by an enemy shall be deemed to have been valid irrespective of notice to the owner if the creditor acted in good faith and with reasonable care and prudence, and no claim by the debtor on the ground of such sale shall be admitted.

This stipulation shall not apply to any sale of securities effected by an enemy during the occupation in regions invaded or occupied by the enemy.

NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS.

6.

As regards Powers which adopt Section III and the Annex thereto the pecuniary obligations existing between enemies and resulting from the issue of negotiable instruments shall be adjusted in conformity with the said Annex by the instrumentality of the Clearing Offices, which shall assume the rights of the holder as regards the various remedies open to him.

7.

If a person has either before or during the war become liable upon a negotiable instrument in accordance with an undertaking given to him by a person who has subsequently become an enemy, the latter shall remain liable to indemnify the former in respect of his liability notwithstanding the outbreak of war.

III. Contracts of Insurance.

8.

Contracts of insurance entered into by any person with another person who subsequently became an enemy will be dealt with in accordance with the following paragraphs.

FIRE INSURANCE.

9.

Contracts for the insurance of property against fire entered into by a person interested in such property with another person who subsequently became an enemy shall not be deemd to have been dissolved by the outbreak of war, or by the fact of the person becoming an enemy, or on account of the failure during the war and for a period of three months thereafter to perform his obligations under the contract, but they shall be dissolved at the date when the annual premium becomes payable for the first time after the expiration of a period of three months after the coming into force of the present Treaty.

A settlement shall be effected of unpaid premiums which became due during the war or of claims for losses which occurred during the war.

10.

Where by administrative or legislative action an insurance against fire effected before the war has been transferred during the war from the original to another insurer, the transfer will be recognised and the liability of the original insurer will be deemed to have ceased as from the date of the transfer. The original insurer will, however, be entitled to receive on demand full information as to the terms of the transfer, and if it should appear that these terms were not equitable they shall be amended so far as may be necessary to render them equitable.

Furthermore, the insured shall, subject to the concurrence of the original insurer, be entitled to retransfer the contract to the original insurer as from the date of the demand.

Contracts of life insurance entered into between an insurer and a person who subsequently became an enemy shall not be deemed to have been dissolved by the outbreak of war, or by the fact of the person becoming an enemy. Any sum which during the war became due upon a contract deemed not to have been dissolved under the preceding provision shall be recoverable after the war with the addition of interest at five per cent. per annum from the date of its becoming due up to the day of payment.

Where the contract has lapsed during the war owing to non-payment of premiums, or has become void from breach of the conditions of the contract, the assured or his representatives or the persons entitled shall have the right at any time within twelve months of the coming into force of the present Treaty to claim from the insurer the surrender value of the policy at the date of its lapse or avoidance.

Where the contract has lapsed during the war owing to non-payment of premiums the payment of which has been prevented by the enforcement of measures of war, the assured or his representative or the persons entitled shall have the right to restore the contract on payment of the premiums with interest at five per cent per annum within three months from the coming into force of the present Treaty.