My Lords, if the consequences of non-recognition of the East
German “government” were to bring in question the validity of
its legislative acts, I should wish seriously to consider
whether the invalidity so brought about is total, or whether
some mitigation of the severity of this result can be found. …
In the United States some glimmerings can be found of the
idea that non-recognition cannot be pressed to its ultimate
logical limit and that where private rights, or acts of everyday
occurrence, or perfunctory acts of administration are
concerned (the scope of these exceptions has never been
precisely defined), the courts may, in the interests of justice
and common sense, where no consideration of public policy
to the contrary has to prevail, give recognition to the actual
facts or realities found to exist in the territory in question….
No trace of any such doctrine is yet to be found in English law, but equally, in my opinion, there is nothing in those
English decisions … which would prevent its acceptance… I
should wish to regard it as an open question, in English law,
in any future case whether and to what extent it can be
invoked.