Title 50War and National DefenseRelease 119-73

§4131 Definitions

Title 50 › Chapter CHAPTER 51— - WAR CLAIMS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - TITLE II OF WAR CLAIMS ACT OF 1948 › § 4131

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Gives simple meanings for key words used in this part. Albania, Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Free Territory of Danzig, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Yugoslavia mean the land they had in continental Europe on December 1, 1937. Commission means the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States, created under Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954 (68 Stat. 1279). National of the United States means a natural person who is a U.S. citizen; a natural person who owes permanent allegiance to the United States though not a citizen; or a company or similar entity formed under U.S. law that is more than 50 percent owned by people in those two groups. It does not include aliens. Property means land and physical items that can be identified and given a value.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §4131

War and National Defense — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

As used in this subchapter the term or terms—
(a)“Albania”, “Austria”, “Czechoslovakia”, “the Free Territory of Danzig”, “Estonia”, “Germany”, “Greece”, “Latvia”, “Lithuania”, “Poland”, and “Yugoslavia”, when used in their respective geographical senses, mean the territorial limits of each such country or free territory, as the case may be, in continental Europe as such limits existed on December 1, 1937.
(b)“Commission” means the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States established pursuant to Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954 (68 Stat. 1279).
(c)“National of the United States” means (1) a natural person who is a citizen of the United States, (2) a natural person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States, and (3) a corporation, partnership, unincorporated body, or other entity, organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, or any possession of the United States and in which more than 50 per centum of the outstanding capital stock or other proprietary or similar interest is owned, directly or indirectly, by persons referred to in clauses (1) and (2) of this subsection. It does not include aliens.
(d)“Property” means real property and such items of tangible personalty as can be identified and evaluated.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954 (68 Stat. 1279), referred to in subsec. (b), is set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 2017 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Separability Pub. L. 87–846, title III, § 301, Oct. 22, 1962, 76 Stat. 1117, provided that: “If any provision of this Act [see Tables for classification], or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, shall be held invalid, the remainder of this Act, or the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected.”

Transfer of Functions

For provisions transferring Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States to Department of Justice, as a separate agency, see section 1622a et seq. of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 4131

Title 50War and National Defense

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73