Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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This article seeks to pay tribute to Hans Smit, a distinguished and highly
recognized international lawyer and personal friend of the author.1 Hans Smit
often mentioned that he was of Dutch origin and joked that he had never left the
Netherlands since he still lived on Amsterdam Avenue. This witty remark is also
a poignant one. Dutch lawyers have for centuries rendered most significant
contributions to the development of international law all over the globe.2 Hans
Smit, though living in New York City for most of his professional life, belongs to
this line of Dutch-born, most eminent international lawyers.
I. INTRODUCTION
International arbitration – partly in the form of so-called Mixed Claims
Commissions – was greatly en vogue in past centuries when the international
debts of sovereigns had to be restructured.3 That has changed.4 Modern
international restructuring regimes normally disregard international arbitration,