Talk:Jerusalem District Electricity Company

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The concession[edit]

To editor Onceinawhile: The history isn't quite correct and the full story is more interesting. I'll summarise from primary sources but it would be better if a secondary source can be used. Mavrommatis (M) was granted a concession in January 1914 by the Jerusalem Municipality and the Sanjak of Jerusalem. Under the Mandate, the government at first refused to recognise the Ottoman concession, but M (i.e. Greece) took it all the way to the Permanent Court of International Justice, which ruled for M (March 1925). Greece took it to the PCIJ again in 1927, claiming that the Palestine government was not adhering to the 1925 ruling due to opposition from Rutenberg and that M deserved compensation. (Rutenberg claimed that his Auja concession allowed him to prevent M supplying Jerusalem with water from the Auja, etc). This time the court decided that it didn't have jurisdiction. The Electricity Concession (Jerusalem) Ordinance, 1930 (Gazette Jan 13, 1930, pp24–39), granted M a new concession on the conditions that he abandon claims under his Ottoman concession and forms a company with sufficient capital, etc. On Feb 4 (Gazette Feb 16, pp102–103) it is announced that the HC had approved a transfer of the concession from M to the Power Securities Corporation, Limited by deeds of assignment of April and June 1928, and by that company by a subsequent deed of Aug 13, 1928, to the Jerusalem Electric and Public Service Corporation, Limited, "a Palestine Company having its registered office at Jaffa". The registration of JEPSC was in Gazette of Aug 1, 1928, p486. I'm not sure how Balfour Beatty got into it: that company registered in Palestine in Aug 1929. (Meiton describes BB as contractors for JEPSC so maybe it wasn't sold to them.) The big question: a separate article or just expand this one? Zerotalk 12:12, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Zero0000: thanks for that. I have come across this topic many times but never taken the time to try to figure it out.
I think it definitely warrants a new article Mavrommatis Concessions; my understanding it that the primary conflict was not Jerusalem concession but the wider pan-Palestine Rutenberg electrification concession. Without having read the details my assumption is that Jerusalem was carved out as a consolation prize for Mavrommatis. Onceinawhile (talk) 14:04, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
See de:Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions and el:Οικογένεια Μαυρομμάτη. Onceinawhile (talk) 14:09, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A good summary is at: Barbara J. Smith (1 July 1993). The Roots of Separatism in Palestine: British Economic Policy, 1920-1929. Syracuse University Press. pp. 123–. ISBN 978-0-8156-2578-0.
There seem to be dozens of writeups on the PCIJ case, all in legal textbooks. Seems to be a landmark legal case of sorts. Onceinawhile (talk) 14:19, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
An excellent legal summary is here. It seems there were two cases, which represent two of the earliest cases ever to be heard in an international court, and two of only 29 ever heard by the PCIJ. Onceinawhile (talk) 14:32, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, two cases in three sessions (the first session was to argue competence to hear the first case). For the PCIJ documents see the three sections at https://www.icj-cij.org/en/pcij-series-c . Zerotalk 01:43, 23 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]