CO129-564-2 Sino-Japanese War- claims for damage against Japanese government. 11-10-1937 - 11-12-1937 — Page 35

served by putting forward claims based on either of these

contentions.

5. Claims coming under the first classes mentioned above may be put forward against whichever Government was responsible for the damage. In cases of occupation of British property by the forces of either side, if the occupation is purely temporary arising from necessity in the course of an actual battle it would become assimilable

to war damage claims in category III and there would be no claim for compensation; any permanent or semi-permanent occupation amounting to a requisition, even if it could be justified on the ground of military necessity would entitle His Majesty's Government to claim adequate compensation for the occupation and for any damage either caused by the forces that took the property over or directly attributable to the fact that it was taken over and used for military purposes and which probably could not have occurred otherwise. If the requisition was not justified, compensation could also be claimed for the act of requisitioning.

6.

Instructions have accordingly been sent to His Majesty's Consular Officers in China to the effect that the preparation and presentation of claims arising out of the present hostilities should be governed by the above principles, and that in the case of both China and Japan claims should be confined to classes I and II referred to above. A protest will be made at Nanking or Tokyo, as the case may be, in respect of each incident falling under

classes/

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