Herbert Brownell, Jr. v. Chase National Bank

The question in the case is whether petitioner, by virtue of a vesting order issued under § 5 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended, 40 Stat. 411, 50 U. S. C. App. § 5, is entitled to the res of a trust established in 1928 by one Cobb and administered by respondent under an indenture. The trust was created for the benefit of the descendants of Bruno Reinicke who, by reason of his powers over the trust and his ownership of the right of reversion, was the real settlor.

In 1945, when this Nation was at war with Germany, the Alien Property Custodian issued an order vesting “all right,…