Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency: An Analysis

In: American journal of international law: AJIL, Volume 26, Issue 3, p. 533-551

Abstract

The Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency, which was signed at Geneva on April 20, 1929, was the natural outgrowth of a conviction, held by the majority of states, that the counterfeiting of currency was an international crime, and moreover, that it was one of a decidedly virulent and insidious character. Had this belief not been widely prevalent, the proposal of the French Government that the League of Nations should undertake the drafting of a convention for the suppression of this crime would have fallen on barren ground. As it was, the existence of the conviction that the whole community of states had an interest in the repression of this form of criminality was what made the agreement at all possible. Repeatedly, especially during the years immediately preceding the drafting of this convention, the states had had occasion to observe that purely national action against counterfeiters was often insufficient, and that international action was in many cases extremely difficult, if not, impossible. Thus, in the face of this common menace, with which separately the states were unable to cope, they came in time to realize that international cooperation was necessary, and what is more, that it was imperative, if they were to make any headway in the prevention and punishment of such crime.