§4306. Alien Property Custodian; general powers and duties

The President is authorized to appoint, prescribe the duties of, and fix the salary of an official to be known as the alien property custodian, who shall be empowered to receive all money and property in the United States due or belonging to an enemy, or ally of enemy, which may be paid, conveyed, transferred, assigned, or delivered to said custodian under the provisions of this chapter; and to hold, administer, and account for the same under the general direction of the President and as provided in this chapter. The President may further employ in the District of Columbia and elsewhere and fix the compensation of such clerks, attorneys, investigators, accountants, and other employees as he may find necessary for the due administration of the provisions of this chapter; Provided, That such clerks, investigators, accountants, and other employees shall be appointed from lists of eligibles to be supplied by the Civil Service Commission ¹ and in accordance with the civil-service law.

(Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, §6, 40 Stat. 415 ; Pub. L. 92–310, title II, §235, June 6, 1972, 86 Stat. 214 ; Pub. L. 94–273, §11(5), Apr. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 378 ; Pub. L. 100–418, title II, §2501(b), Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1371 .)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original "this Act", meaning act Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, 40 Stat. 411 , known as the Trading with the enemy Act, also known as the Trading with the Enemy Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 4301 of this title and Tables.

Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 6 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Provisions that limited the salary of the alien property custodian to not more than $5,000 per annum have been omitted as obsolete and superseded. Sections 1202 and 1204 of the Classification Act of 1949, 63 Stat. 972, 973, repealed the Classification Act of 1923 and all other laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the 1949 Act. The Classification Act of 1949 was repealed by Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, §8(a), 80 Stat. 632 , and reenacted as chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Section 5102 of Title 5 contains the applicability provisions of the 1949 Act, and section 5103 of Title 5 authorizes the Office of Personnel Management to determine the applicability to specific positions and employees.

Amendments

1988-Pub. L. 100–418 struck out before period at end ": Provided further, That the President shall cause a detailed report to be made to Congress on the first day of April of each year of all proceedings had under this chapter during the year preceding. Such report shall contain a list of all persons appointed or employed, with the salary or compensation paid to each, and a statement of the different kinds of property taken into custody and the disposition made thereof".

1976-Pub. L. 94–273 substituted "April" for "January".

1972-Pub. L. 92–310 struck out provisions which required the Alien Property Custodian to give a bond.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

Functions vested by statute in United States Civil Service Commission transferred to Director of Office of Personnel Management (except as otherwise specified) by Reorg. Plan No. 2 of 1978, §102, 43 F.R. 36037, 92 Stat. 3783, set out under section 1101 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, effective Jan. 1, 1979, as provided by section 1–102 of Ex. Ord. No. 12107, Dec. 28, 1978, 44 F.R. 1055, set out under section 1101 of Title 5.

Functions vested by law in Alien Property Custodian or Office of Alien Property Custodian transferred to Attorney General by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1947, §101, eff. July 1, 1947, 12 F.R. 4534, 61 Stat. 951, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Jurisdiction over certain blocked assets transferred from Attorney General to Secretary of the Treasury, see Ex. Ord. No. 11281, set out below.

Ex. Ord. No. 9760. Authority of Secretary of State Regarding Diplomatic Property of Germany and Japan

Ex. Ord. No. 9760, July 23, 1946, 11 F.R. 7999, provided:

1. The Secretary of State is authorized and empowered as he deems necessary in the national interest to direct, manage, supervise, or control diplomatic and consular property within the United States owned or controlled by Germany or Japan, including all assets on the premises of such property.

2. The Alien Property Custodian shall not exercise any power and authority conferred upon him by any other Executive order with respect to diplomatic and consular property within the United States owned or controlled by Germany or Japan except so far as the Secretary of State releases his authority over such diplomatic and consular property under this order and so notifies the Alien Property Custodian in writing.

3. When the Secretary of State determines to exercise any power and authority conferred upon him by this order with respect to any property over which the Secretary of the Treasury is exercising any control and so notifies the Secretary of the Treasury in writing, the Secretary of the Treasury shall release all control of such property, except as authorized or directed by the Secretary of State.

4. This order supersedes all conflicting provisions of prior Executive orders, including Executive Orders Nos. 8389, as amended [50 U.S.C. 4305 note] and 9095, as amended [Mar. 11, 1942, 7 F.R. 1971].

5. The Secretary of State is authorized to prescribe from time to time regulations, rulings, and instructions to carry out the purposes of this order.

Harry S. Truman.      

Ex. Ord. No. 9788. Termination of Office of World War II Alien Property Custodian and Transference of Its Functions to the Attorney General

Ex. Ord. No. 9788, Oct. 14, 1946, 11 F.R. 11981, provided:

1. The Office of Alien Property Custodian in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President, established by Executive Order No. 9095 of March 11, 1942 [7 F.R. 1971], is hereby terminated; and all authority, rights, privileges, powers, duties, and functions vested in such Office or in the Alien Property Custodian or transferred or delegated thereto are hereby vested in or transferred or delegated to the Attorney General, as the case may be, and shall be administered by him or under his direction and control by such officers and agencies of the Department of Justice as he may designate.

2. All property or interests vested in or transferred to the Alien Property Custodian or seized by him, and all proceeds thereof, which are held or administered by him on the effective date of this order are hereby transferred to the Attorney General.

3. All personnel, property, records, and funds of the Office of Alien Property Custodian are hereby transferred to the Department of Justice.

4. This order supersedes all prior Executive orders to the extent that they are in conflict with this order.

5. This order shall become effective on October 15, 1946.

Harry S. Truman.      

Ex. Ord. No. 11281. Transferring Jurisdiction Over Blocked Assets From Attorney General to Secretary of the Treasury

Ex. Ord. No. 11281, May 13, 1966, 31 F.R. 7215, provided:

WHEREAS before October 1, 1948, the Secretary of the Treasury administered the blocking controls and other restrictions over property and interests of certain foreign countries or their nationals that had been imposed, under the authority of section 5(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 5(b) [now 50 U.S.C. 4305(b)]), by means of and under Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended [50 U.S.C. 4305 note]; and

WHEREAS by Executive Order No. 9989 of August 20, 1948 [13 F.R. 4891], jurisdiction over the property and interests which remained blocked or restricted under Executive Order No. 8389 on September 30, 1948, was transferred, effective October 1, 1948, to the Attorney General to aid him in carrying out his functions as successor to the Alien Property Custodian, including, among others, the function of vesting property pursuant to the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended [50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.]; and

WHEREAS by Executive Order No. 10644 of November 7, 1955 [former 22 U.S.C. 1631a note], the Attorney General was designated to carry out the functions of the President under Title II of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 (as added by the Act of August 9, 1955, Public Law 285, 84th Congress, 69 Stat. 562) [22 U.S.C. 1631 et seq.], including certain vesting and blocking functions required by section 202 of that Act (22 U.S.C. 1631a), and the Attorney General, as designee of the President, exercises controls under Executive Order No. 8389 with respect to the net proceeds of certain property that are carried, pursuant to section 202, in blocked accounts with the Treasury; and

WHEREAS the functions of vesting property under the Trading with the Enemy Act and under section 202 of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 have been terminated; and

WHEREAS the blocking controls not exercised by the Attorney General under Executive Order No. 8389 are limited in application to property of Hungary or its nationals acquired on or before January 1, 1945; property of Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or nationals of those countries acquired on or before December 7, 1945; property of East Germany or its nationals acquired on or before December 31, 1946, and certain securities scheduled in General Rulings No. 5 and No. 5B, as amended (8 CFR 511.205 and 511.205b); and

WHEREAS the Office of Alien Property, through which the Attorney General carries out or has carried out the various responsibilities described above, will be abolished on or before June 30, 1966, and the Attorney General thereafter will not be in a position to administer blocking controls under Executive Order No. 8389 efficiently; and

WHEREAS in the interest of efficiency it is desirable to return to the Secretary of the Treasury jurisdiction over the property and interests remaining subject to such blocking controls:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended [50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.], Title II of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 [22 U.S.C. 1631 et seq.] and section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. The authority granted to the Attorney General by Executive Order No. 9989 with respect to property and interests blocked or otherwise subject to restriction under Executive Order No. 8389 [50 U.S.C. 4305 note] is hereby terminated and Executive Order No. 9989 is hereby superseded.

Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury shall hereafter be responsible for the administration of the controls exercisable under Executive Order No. 8389 and he is authorized and directed to take such action as he may deem necessary with respect to any property or interest that remains blocked or restricted under Executive Order No. 8389 on the effective date of this order. In the performance of the functions and duties hereby reassigned to him, the Secretary of the Treasury may act personally or through any officer, person, agency or instrumentality designated by him.

Sec. 3. All orders, regulations, rulings, instructions or licenses issued prior to the effective date of this order by the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to any of the property or interests referred to in Section 2 shall continue in full force and effect except as hereafter amended, modified or revoked by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Sec. 4. No person affected by any order, regulation, ruling, instruction, license or other action issued or taken by either the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of Executive Order No. 8389 may challenge the validity thereof or otherwise excuse any action, or failure to act, on the ground that it was within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury rather than the Attorney General or vice versa.

Sec. 5. [Amended section 1 of Ex. Ord. No. 10644, former 22 U.S.C. 1631a note]

Sec. 6. Executive Order No. 8389, this order and all delegations, designations, regulations, rulings, instructions and licenses issued or to be issued under Executive Order No. 8389 or this order are hereby continued in force according to their terms for the duration of the period of the national emergency proclaimed by Proclamation No. 2914 of December 16, 1950 [50 U.S.C. 1 note prec]. Executive Order No. 10348 of April 26, 1952 [17 F.R. 3769] is hereby superseded.

Sec. 7. Nothing in this order shall be deemed to revoke or limit any powers heretofore conferred on the Secretary of the Treasury by or under any statute or Executive order, or to revoke or limit any powers heretofore conferred upon the Attorney General by or under any statute or Executive order other than Executive Order No. 9989 or No. 10644.

Sec. 8. This order shall become effective at midnight, May 15, 1966.

Lyndon B. Johnson.      

¹ See Transfer of Functions note below.