Edwin B. Parker

The United States of America on Behalf of William A. Parker, Claimant, v. The United Mexican States (Docket No. 127)

The espousal of a private claim by a government is not evidence of the nationality of the claim, which must be established by proof submitted in accordance with the treaty and the rules of procedure adopted by the Commission. The technical rules of evidence obtaining under municipal law have no place in regulating the admissibility of and in the weighing of evidence before this international tribunal. The Commission denies the existence in international procedure of rules governing the burden of proof borrowed from municipal law. On the contrary, it holds that it is the duty of the prospective agencies to cooperate in searching out and presenting to the tribunal all facts throwing any light on the merits of the claim presented. The parties before the Commission are sovereign nations who are in honor bound to make full disclosures of the facts in each case, so far as such facts are within their knowledge, or can reasonably be ascertained by them. An interlocutory decree issued deciding on the record presented that the claimant is an American national, but reserving decision with respect to the ownership and amount of the claim and requesting the agents to co6perate in discovering the facts and to file evidence on or before July 1, 1926.