Barcelona Traction and Nottebohm Revisited: Nationality as a Requirement for Diplomatic Protection of Shareholders in South African Law: Notes and Comments

Abstract

The recent case of Von Abo v Government of RSA indicates what would have been an unsettling shift, albeit in thinking which was overturned on appeal, from the decisions of the International Court of Justice in the Nottebohm Case (Liechtenstein v Guatemala), Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited (Belgium v Spain), Case Concerning Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v Democratic Republic of Congo), as well as the work of the International Law Commission on Diplomatic Protection. The decision also strangely differs from and disregarded Van Zyl v Government of RSA, a decision of a provincial division which was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal.