358 Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1914– )were fi led, only two substantive decisions were rendered, both of which were
highly controversial. Eventually, in 1934, the remaining special claims were
settled en bloc by a lump sum payment of $5.4 million by Mexico to the U.S.
government, which then devised an internal pro cess for hearing the claims
and distributing the sum. Th e general claims commission heard more cases,
but there too, matters were expedited by the conclusion of a global lump sum
settlement in 1941 (a payment of $40 million by Mexico). Mexico also con-
cluded general claims conventions with six Eu ro pe an countries in the period
1924– 27 (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Belgium). Finally, there
was a general mixed- claims commission established by Panama and the
United States in 1926. Th ese claims commissions, in the aggregate, pro-
duced an avalanche of case law that was far larger in bulk than that of the
P.C.I.J., and more varied as well.
Attacking Extraterritoriality
It has been observed that Japan, uniquely, had succeeded in bringing an end
to extraterritoriality privileges of the developed Western states, by way of a
series of bilateral treaties. Aft er the Great War, the other states sought to do
the same, with varying degrees of success. Siam replicated the Japa nese ap-
proach. Th e decisive step occurred in 1920, when the American government
agreed to give up extraterritorial privileges for its nationals. A similar
concession by Japan came four years later. Other Eu ro pe an countries soon
followed suit, so that by 1926, all extraterritoriality arrangements had been
terminated in that country.
In Turkey, the main capitulation agreement of 1740 was still in force at the
outbreak of the Great War. Th e Ottoman government purported to termi-
nate the capitulations unilaterally in October 1914, but this had no eff ect in
light of the eventual Allied victory. In the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920, the victo-
rious powers even provided for the extension of the capitulation privileges to
all other Allied states that did not then benefi t from them. Th is treaty, how-
ever, did not enter into force. Th e Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 was very diff erent
on this score. It provided for “the complete abolition” of the Turkish capitula-
tions “in every respect.” Th is applied only to Turkey itself, though, and not to
the whole of the Ottoman Empire. So the mixed courts of Egypt continued to
operate. A separate arrangement to end them was concluded in 1937, in the