Colombia v. Cauca Company

1907 American Journal of International Law  
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more » ... ntent at http://about.jstor.org/participate--jstor/individuals/early-journal--content. JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary source objects. JSTOR helps people discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not--for--profit organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. 212 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW COLOMBIA V. CAUCA COMPANY 190 U. S. Rep. Ed. 524; 47 L. Ed. 1159 This case involved the following questions: 1. The jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court over an appeal from a judgment rendered by United States circuit court of appeals against a foreign government which had brought suit against an American citizen. 2. The validity of an award of a tribunal of arbitration, between the foreign government and American citizen, rendered by a majority of the arbitrators, one of them having resigned after the discussions were closed but before the award was rendered. 3. The impeachment of an award as having been given in part in excess of the jurisdiction conferred by the arbitral agreement. 4. The impeachment of an award by one of the parties after that party has received and retains the valuable consideration stipulated in the arbitral agreement. 5. The power of the arbitrators to render an award for the benefit of the assignee of the contract, the assignor, and not the assignee, being a party to the submission. The decisive facts of the case were these: One Cheery received a concession, with the right of assignment, from the Colombian government to build a railroad. Cheery, for valuable considerations, assigned the concession to the Cauca Company, a West Virginia corporation, organized for the purpose of building and operating the road. Cheery then assigned his contractto the Cauca Companyto the Colombian Construction and Improvement Company for certain valuable considerations. The latter company became thereby substituted to his place in his contract assigned to the Cauca Company. The road was not built within the period prescribed in the concession, and the government claimed the forfeiture. The Cauca Company claimed that this failure was due to the fault of the government. The matter became the subject of diplomatic discussion, and culminated in an agreement of arbitration, by the terms of which the Cauca Company surrendered the railroad to the government, which agreed to pay a just indemnity. The arbitration tribunal, styled a commission, consisted of three members, one appointed by Colombia, one by the Cauca Company, and the third by common accord between the secretary of state and the Colombian minister at Washington. The arbitral agreement provided that the commission was to DECISIONS INVOLVING QUESTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 213 determine the procedure to be followed in the exercise of the power conferred upon it, both as to its own acts and the proceedings of the parties.
doi:10.2307/2186309 fatcat:72xw2soktng4fp7jychbnr6g7e