Barcelona Traction, Light and Power

In 1919, a conflict between a BTLP subsidiary, Riegos y fuerzas del Ebro, and eight office workers escalated into a 44-days general strike called by the Anarcho-Syndicalist National Confederation of Labour halting Barcelona and 70% of the Catalan industry. A success for labour, the strike ended with a law establishing an 8-hour workday throughout Spain, the liberation of imprisoned workers without a pending process, wage increases for La Canadiense workers and half-wages for the month spent striking.

Tranvías de Barcelona (1912)

Ferrocarriles de Barcelona (1911–1913)

Compañía Barcelonesa de Electricidad (1912)

Saltos del Segre (1912)

Lawsuit

The government of Spain under Franco in the 1960s placed restrictions on foreigners doing business in Spain. The Belgian stockholders in Barcelona Traction lost money and wanted to sue in the International Court of Justice, where their cause was defended by Belgian lawyer Henri Rolin. But in the court Judge Fornier ruled on the side of Spain, holding that only the state in which the corporation was incorporated (Canada) can sue. The decision in Belgium v. Spain is important in public international law because it demonstrates the importance of protections of corporate nationality in nominal ("paper") terms over effective nationality (siège social) where the ownership effectively resides. Unless a principle of law permits a country to espouse a national's claim in the ICJ, there cannot be an espousal.

The case is also important as it demonstrates how the concept of diplomatic protection under international law can apply equally to corporations as to individuals. It also expanded the notion of obligations owed erga omnes (in relation to everyone) in the international community.