The Oscar Chinn Case (Britain v. Belgium). [1934], P.C.I.J. (Ser. A/B) No. 63 was a case of the Permanent Court of International Justice. [1]
The Belgian government granted significant subsidies to a Belgian company, UNATRA, that offered transportation services in the Belgian Congo. Mr. Chinn, a British subject who operated a fluvial transport company on the Congo River could not compete (during the Great Depression) with the subsidised UNATRA's nominal prices and Britain brought a claim against the Belgian government as a matter of diplomatic protection. [2] [3]
The Court decided, based on the Convention of Saint-Germain 1919 and general principles of international law, that the Belgian Government did not violate any international legal obligations to the United Kingdom. [4]
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The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo, was a large state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by King Leopold II, the constitutional monarch of the Kingdom of Belgium. In legal terms, the two separate countries were in a personal union. The Congo Free State was not a part of, nor did it belong to Belgium. Leopold was able to seize the region by convincing other European states at the Berlin Conference on Africa that he was involved in humanitarian and philanthropic work and would not tax trade. Via the International Association of the Congo, he was able to lay claim to most of the Congo Basin. On 29 May 1885, after the closure of the Berlin Conference, the king announced that he planned to name his possessions "the Congo Free State", an appellation which was not yet used at the Berlin Conference and which officially replaced "International Association of the Congo" on 1 August 1885. The Free State was privately controlled by Leopold from Brussels; he never visited it.
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Chinn is a surname, originating both in England and among overseas Chinese communities.
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Frederik-Valdemar Olsen was a Danish soldier who became a general and commander in chief of the Belgian Congo Force Publique. He was born into a poor family, joined the Danish army, then in 1898 volunteered to serve in the Congo Free State. He rose quickly through the ranks, and in 1909–1910 played an important role in a stand-off with German and British forces disputing the eastern border of what was now the Belgian Congo. During World War I Olsen commanded a force that defended Northern Rhodesia against a German attack, then advanced from the south of Lake Kivu to take Tabora in what is now Tanzania. After the war he became commander of the Force Publique before retiring as a general in 1925. Olsen was then made general manager of the state-owned Congo River shipping line Unatra, later combined with railway lines to form Otraco. He retired from this position in 1947.
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