Paris Decides "Whose Right Of Ownership Should Prevail?"

Mr Bauer was the owner in France of the Pissarro painting La Cueillette or La récolte des pois. In 1943, on the order of the General Commissariat for Jewish Affairs, the painting was confiscated from Mr Bauer by an art dealer appointed as escrow agent. The art dealer then sold the painting in 1944 through his daughter, Mrs Louviot, to Mrs Eudeline.

At the end of the Second World War Mr Bauer summoned both Mrs Eudeline and Mrs Louviot before the High Court of Paris and applied for the cancellation of the sale of the painting. In 1945, the Court applied the provisions of a decree of 21 April 1945 (the "Decree") and found the sale to be null and void and ordered the restitution of the painting to Mr Bauer.