Alien Property Custodian

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An Alien Property Custodian was an office within the Government of the United States during World War I and again during World War II.

Sec. 6 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 40 Stat. 415, 50 U.S.C.App., authorizes the President to appoint an official known as the "alien property custodian," who is responsible for "receiv[ing,] ... hold[ing], administer[ing], and account[ing] for" "all money and property in the United States due or belonging to an enemy, or ally of enemy ... ." The Act was originally enacted during World War I "to permit, under careful safeguards and restrictions, certain kinds of business to be carried on" among warring nations, and to "provid[e] for the care and administration of the property and property rights of enemies and their allies in this country pending the war." Marshall v. Marshall, 126 S.Ct. 1735 (2006) (quoting from Markham v. Cabell, 326 U.S. 404, 414, n. 1 (1945) (Burton, J., concurring)), see also S.Rep. No. 113, 65th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 1 (1917).