Rezension: W. Flad: Gesetz über die Devisenbewirtschaftung vom 4. Februar 1935 mit Durchführungsverordnung, Richtlinien und Nebengesetzen sowie Vorwort

Helene Lieser’s 1935 review of W. Flad’s Gesetz über die Devisenbewirtschaftung vom 4. Februar 1935 assesses a legal text edition through its coverage and practical usability. She first identifies its core materials: the German foreign-exchange control law, its implementing regulation, and administrative guidelines issued by the Reichstelle für Devisenbewirtschaftung in agreement with the finance and agriculture ministers.

The review then shifts from statutory coverage to the needs of readers abroad:

Den ausländischen Benützer wird auch das Gesetz über Zahlungsverbindlichkeiten gegenüber dem Ausland (Transfermortatorium) und das Gesetz über die Errichtung einer Deutschen Verrechnungskasse sowie die Bekanntmachungen über deutsche Auslandsschuldverschreibungen interessieren.

English translation: Foreign users will also be interested in the law on payment obligations toward foreign countries (transfer moratorium) and the law establishing a German clearing office, as well as the notices concerning German foreign debt securities.

These supplementary texts make the edition relevant to cross-border payments and debt obligations. Lieser’s judgment concerns access to a difficult regulatory field, rather than the economic merits of the controls. Her closing sentence supplies the review’s clearest evaluation:

Das Sachregister erleichtert das Zurechtfinden in dieser dornigen Materie.

English translation: The subject index makes it easier to find one’s way through this thorny subject.

The review thus moves from contents, through foreign users’ interests, to navigability: its modest but definite claim is that the edition helps readers locate and use interrelated legal provisions.