Introduction

Expropriation in the sense of an outright taking of private property by the state, usually involving a transfer of ownership rights to the state or to a third person, has been a major public international law issue throughout the 20th century. The Communist and Mexican nationalization measures in the 1920s, followed by socializations[1] of private property in Eastern European countries after WW II and expropriations of foreign investments in developing countries in the course of the decolonization process as well as the oil concession disputes of the 1960s and 1970s mark the most ...