The Custodian of Enemy Property is an institution that handles property claims created by war. In wartime, civilian property may be left behind or taken by the occupying state. In ancient times, such property was considered

war loot Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

, and the legal right of the winner. In the

Fourth Geneva Convention The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in Augus ...

Article 147, such action is defined as war crime:

Custodian of Enemy Property laws

The following list is incomplete. Bangladesh: The Enemy Property Act was established to manage property of enemies (Indians) taken while it was part of Pakistan (1948–1971) or during its independence war (1971). Canada The Office of the

Custodian of Enemy Property The Custodian of Enemy Property is an institution that handles property claims created by war. In wartime, civilian property may be left behind or taken by the occupying state. In ancient times, such property was considered war loot, and the le ...

was established in 1916 and existed until 1985, dealing with the property of Canada's enemies in both World Wars as well as the seized property of

Japanese Canadians are Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of British Columbia, which hosts the largest Japanese community in the country with the majority of them living ...

. India: The

Custodian for Enemy Property for India The Custodian of Enemy Property for India is an Indian government department that is empowered to appropriate property under the Enemy Property Act, 1968 in India owned by Pakistani nationals. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Enemy Prop ...

was established to manage Pakistani property taken in the

Second Kashmir War The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

(1965). Israel: The

Absentees' Property Laws Land and property laws in Israel are the property law component of Israeli law, providing the legal framework for the ownership and other ''in rem'' rights towards all forms of property in Israel, including real estate (land) and movable property ...

established the Office of the Israeli Custodian of Absentee Property to manage the property of absentee

Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war ( 1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exo ...

s (including refugees who later became citizens of Israel, called "

present absentee Present absentees are Arab internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled or were expelled from their homes in Mandatory Palestine during the 1947–1949 Palestine war but remained within the area that became the state of Israel. The term applies ...

s") of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War (1948). During the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

(1967), along with previously Palestinian properties, Israel took control of the Jewish property held by the Jordanian Custodian for Enemy Property and put it under the control of their own Custodian of Absentee Property. Most of this property remains under the Custodian, while some (as in the

Sheikh Jarrah Sheikh Jarrah ( ar, الشيخ جراح, he, שייח' ג'ראח) is a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City, on the road to Mount Scopus. It received its name from the 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Ja ...

case) has been granted to Jews contesting ownership, after claiming it in court. Jordan: The Jordanian Custodian of Enemy Property was established to handle property taken from Jews in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

taken in the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

(1948). In 1967, this function was disbanded (see above). United Kingdom: Custodian of Enemy Property. Previously under the

Trading with the Enemy Act 1914 The Trading with the Enemy Act 1914 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that prescribed an offence of conducting business with any person of "enemy character". It was enacted soon after the United Kingdom became involved in Worl ...

enemy property was inspected by the Board of Trade and ownership was transferred to the

Public Trustee The public trustee is an office established pursuant to national (and, if applicable, state or territory) statute, to act as a trustee, usually when a sum is required to be deposited as security by legislation, if courts remove another trustee, o ...

. Initially, the Public Trustee held ownership on trust for the enemy but after a 1916 amendment the Public Trustee was required to sell the assets and hold the proceeds in trust. Under the

Trading with the Enemy Act 1939 The Trading with the Enemy Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo 6 c 89) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes it a criminal offence to conduct trade with the enemy in wartime, with a penalty of up to seven years' imprisonment. The bill ...

, three custodians were established: England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. Custodians were also appointed in respect of British Dependent Territories.
History Notes, ''British policy towards enemy property during and after the Second World War'', Foreign & Commonwealth Office
accessed 19 March 2014 United States: The

Office of Alien Property Custodian The Office of Alien Property Custodian was an office within the government of the United States during World War I and again during World War II, serving as a custodian to property that belonged to US enemies. The office was created in 1917 by E ...

was an office within the United States federal government during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and again during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Custodian of Enemy Property Military occupation Law of war Economic warfare