alleged breach took place wholly before the new Treaty came into force. The Court, having decided that the 1926 Treaty was not given retrospective effect; concluded that it •Nas impossibfe to hold that any of its provisions were deemed to have been in force earlier. 16. The European Commission on Human Rights also recognized that this principle of non-retrospectivity of statutes and treaties is generally applicable to all inte111ational jurisdictions. This was in the case of De Becker, case No. ·214/56 decided on 9 June 1958> see Annual Index Vol. II p. 231. @rn the instant case Counsel ~id n o ~ how the Supplement_ary _I:>roto9g_h_ expressly or im2_I.i~~ly)_was given retrospective effect. The tlu·ust of their .____....--- ' - argument is that the Supplementary Protocol is procedural hi. nature and N_C{) (c:t.-e ? effect and for that reason it 4as retrospective effect._in law. ·1_8. In the case of Barbieri vs Iv1orris,_Mo; 315 S.W. 2d 711 at page 714, it was said that refroactive laws are gene1;ally defined from a legal vievvpoint as those ~thich ta~e away or impair vested rights acquired uu.<ler existing , . laws, create new obligations, impose a new duty or attach a new disability in ,respect to the transaction·s or considerations already past. In other words it is . . .a law that is intended to act on things, which are past. 19. Another impo1tant definitioi1 is to be· found in the case of Bear Val Mutual Water Co. vs. San Be111ardino County, 24 2 Cal. App. 2d, 68, where _it was stated that a retrospective law is one which looks backward or contemplates the past, one which is made to affect acts or facts occuning1 or rights accruing) before it came into force. Eve1y statute, which takes away or i.mpairs vested rights a~quired under existing laws) or creates a new obligation, imposes a new duty, or attaches a new disability in respect of transactions or considerations already· past. One which relates back to a 6 Downloaded from worldcourts.com. Use is subject to terms and conditions. See worldcourts.com/terms.htm