In the Treatment of Polish Nationals and other Persons of Polish Origin or Speech at Danzig

1932

Facts: The free city of Danzig was created on 15 November 1920 in accordance with the terms of
Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I.
Poland was given full rights to develop and maintain transportation, communication, and port
facilities in the city. The Free City was created in order to give Poland access to a well-sized
seaport. While the city's population was majority-German, it had a significant Polish minority as
well. The German population deeply resented being separated from Germany, and subjected the
Polish minority to discrimination and ethnically based harassment.

The dispute concerned the application to the Polish nationals of the provisions of Danzig
Constitution and other laws about which the Polish government had complained to be
discriminatory between the majority German population on the one hand and the Danzig citizens
of Polish origin or Polish citizens or other persons of Polish origin or speech on the other hand,
all of whom were citizens of Danzig.

On September 30th, 1930, the diplomatic representative of Poland at Danzig wrote to the
High Commissioner of the League of Nations, asking him for a decision, under Article 39 of the
Polish- Danzig Convention, concluded at Paris on November 9th, 1920, “in regard to the
unfavorable treatment of Polish nationals and other persons of Polish origin or speech in the
territory of the Free City of Danzig”. In his explanatory memorandum, the Polish diplomatic
representative had emphasized that it had become clear that the position of the Polish population
at Danzig, as established by Article 104 (5) of the Treaty of Versailles and Article 33 of the
Convention of Paris, was imperiled.

Issue: Is the question of the treatment of Polish nationals and other persons of Polish origin or
speech in the territory of the free city of Danzig to be decided solely by reference to article 104(5)
of the Treaty of Versailles and article 33, paragraph 1 of the convention of Paris or also by
reference to the Constitution of the Free City?

Held: It should be observed that while on the one hand, according to generally accepted
principles, a State cannot rely, as against another State, on the provision of the latter’s
constitution, but only on international law and international obligations duly accepted, on the
other hand and conversely, a State cannot adduce as against another State its own Constitution
with a view to evading obligations incumbent upon it under international law or treaties in force.
Applying these principles to the present case, it results that the question of the treatment of Polish
nationals or other persons of Polish origin or speech must be settled exclusively on the bases of
the rules of international law and the treaty provisions in force between Poland and Danzig

Principle:

‘’A state cannot adduce as against another state its constitution with a view to evading
obligations incumbent upon it under international law or treaties in force. Applying these
principles to the present case, it results that the question of treatment of Polish origin or speech
must be settled exclusively on the basis of the rules of international law and treaty provisions in
force between Poland and Danzig.”