Hugh Aiken Bayne | |
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| Born | Hugh Aiken Bayne (1870-02-15)February 15, 1870 New Orleans,Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | December 24, 1954(1954-12-24) (aged 84) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Yale University |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer Judge Advocate Lieutenant Colonel Judge |
| Employer(s) | Strong & Cadwalader Adjutant General's Office Prisoners of War Mission Liquidation Commission of theWar Department Inter-Allied Reparations Commission |
| Known for | Judge on theInter-Allied Reparations Commission under the treaties ofVersailles andSt. Germain |
| Spouse | Helen (Cheney) Bayne |
| Parent | Thomas Levingston Bayne |
| Relatives | John Gayle (grandfather) |
| Honors | Distinguished Service Medal Légion d'honneur |
Hugh Aiken Bayne (15 February 1870 inNew Orleans – 24 December 1954 inNew Haven, Connecticut) was the son of Thomas Levingston Bayne, a lawyer who fought in theCivil War. His grandfatherJohn Gayle was a Congressman andGovernor of Alabama.
Bayne attendedYale University, where he graduated in 1892 with an AB. While at Yale, he publishedThe Tales of Temple Bar: A Prologue (1891),[1] a collection of his comic writing for campus humor magazineThe Yale Record. He was a member ofSkull and Bones.[2]
He would later receive an honorary LLD fromTulane University. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law inNew Orleans. Bayne moved toNew York City in 1898, where he would continue the practice of law until 1919. From 1905 to 1914 he was a member of the storied law firmStrong & Cadwalader of New York City.
DuringWorld War I, he served as a major judge advocate in the Adjutant Generals Office, as a counsel on the Prisoners of War Mission and served on the Liquidation Commission of the War Department. He was made alieutenant colonel in 1919, but he never fought in any battles. For his services he was decorated with theDistinguished Service Medal and theLégion d'honneur.
After the war, he served on theReparation Commission under the treaties of Versailles and St. Germain. During this time he served as a judge deciding the claim of Belgium vs. Austria, regarding the Treasure of the Order of Golden Fleece. The King of Belgium requested that the treasure be transferred to him as the new ruler of the former Habsburg lands of the Austrian Netherlands. The three judges, of whom Bayne was one gave serious consideration to handing the treasure over to Belgium. However at the request of Emperor Carl, King Alfonso XIII of Spain intervened and the treasure remained in Austrian hands. He also handled the claim of Czecho-Slovakia being the successor to the Kingdom of Bohemia, and a claim regarding 500 works of art stolen from Bohemia by Austria between 1616 and 1914. One of the most interesting claims he handled wasStandard Oil Co. vs. the Reparations Commission. The commission had appropriated 21 oil tankers owned by a Germany subsidiary of Standard Oil to pay for Germans reparations. He also handled cases on disarmament clauses.
On 8 October 1895 he married Helen Cheney, the sister of Knight Dexter Cheney, Jr., one of Bayne's classmates atYale and brothers inSkull and Bones.
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