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pour le porter à envoyer sa réponse aussitôt que possible. Or, le 28 Novembre, 1905, il m'est arrivé de la part du Surintendant du Commerce du Sud une lettre disaut qu'il· vient de prendre en considération les amendements des Règlements du Tribunal Mixte à Shanghai, mais que, comme il fallait ajouter certains passages aux propositions et en éliminer d'autres, on s'est efforcé à porter les Règlements à une perfection absolue de manière à correspondre aux besoins du moment actuel. Notre Ministre a de nouveau soumis les Règlements à un examen, et il est venu à la conviction que tous les Articles, comme ils ont été fixés, sont parfaitement convenables.
J'ai donc l'honneur d'envoyer à votre Excellence, en sa qualité de Doyen du Corps Diplomatique, ci-joint, copie des Règlements, avec prière de la porter à la connaissance de Messieurs les Représentants des Puissances à Pékin, afin qu'ils communiquent ces Règlements aux Consuls étrangers à Shanghaï et leur donnent les instructions nécessaires pour leur observation générale.
En espérant recevoir une réponse de votre Excellence, je saisis, &c.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Chinese Amendments respecting Supplementary Rules for the Mixed Court at Shanghac.
1.(a.) THE Mixed Court at Shanghae shall keep separate dockets in Chinese of all police cases and mixed civil cases, entering each case separately, numbering it consecutively, with the date of filing, the names of the parties in full, their nationality, the thing claimed, with the Minutes and dates of all orders, decrees, continuances, appeals, and proceedings until final judgment, and a sufficient minute of the final judgment.
(b.) The Mixed Court shall have power to deal with all criminal cases punishable by cangue or beating with the bamboo, or by imprisonment not exceeding three years, and shall keep a separate docket thereof as above provided.
(c.) Such several dockets except those of police cases and mixed civil cases, which may be examined by any party materially interested at any time after the case has been decided, if they contain confidential or important information which it is not advisable to disclose, shall not be subject to inspection.
The remaining civil cases brought directly to the Court need not be recorded in a separate docket, but when such cases are disposed of the judgment, together with a statement of the names of the parties and witnesses already set at liberty or otherwise dealt with shall be exhibited in due course on the notice board for general information.
2. All trials and proceedings in the Mixed Court of Shanghae shall be open to the public, unless the Assessor and Judge agree that for confidential reasons and for public morals the case should be private.
3. The office of Magistrate of the Mixed Court shall be an official post with all the attributes of the yêmen of a Prefect, Independent Sub-Prefect, or Independent Departmental Magistrate. The Magistrate shall be selected and deputed from among the Prefects, Sub-Prefects, Assistant Sub-Prefects, Departmental and District Magistrates of the province. If the official deputed be a Departmental or District Magistrate, the rules shall be followed applying to an Acting Prefect or Acting (Independent (?)) Departmental Magistrate. His official dealings and correspondence shall be conducted on the lines followed by a Prefect, Independent Sub-Prefect, or an Independent Depart- mental Magistrate. If there is no suitable official in the province, in official from another province may be used. The Shanghae Taotai shall in either case request the Viceroy and the Governor to make the appointment (and, if occasion demands), to address (the authorities of another province asking for the) use (of an official's services). [TRANSLATOR.—The Chinese drafting requires amendment here.]
The date of his taking over and handing over charge shall be reported to the Board.
4.-(a) In all cases, except where both parties are Chinese, and in which no foreigner is involved, a foreign official shall sit as Assessor. The powers of these foreign Assessors, who shall be appointed by the respective Consular representatives, subject to the Treaty rights of each nationality of foreigners, shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the Chefoo Convention, section 2.
(b.) If the Magistrate and Assessor fail to agree after consideration upon the decision in any case, it shall be referred to the Taotai and Consul, or Consul-General concerned, as the case may be.
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5. The Mixed Court gaol shall be kept under European sanitary conditions. An experienced and capable Chinese medical officer shall be engaged by the Court itself to carry out this work, and the Shanghao Taotai shall set aside funds for this purpose.
If in the future the Court gets a proper gaol, separate rules will be drawn up for its satisfactory administration.
6. No warrant or summons of the Mixed Court against Chinese in the foreign Settlement north of the Yang-king-pang shall be enforced unless countersigned by the Senior Consul.
(In the case of respectable persons, and when the circumstances of the case are not really grave, a summons should only be issued, and warrants must not be used unneces sarily. If a party fails to appear when summoned more than once he may then be arrested under a warrant.)
If the defendant is in the employment of a foreigner, such warrant must be also countersigned by the Consul of the nationality of the employer of the defendant.
In Chinese cases, where the parties are summoned by the Chinese Magistrate, they are to be released on bail if the hearing of the case is not at once impending, so as to avoid detention in custody.
Now that no torture is employed in hearing cases, the new Regulations sanctioned by the Throne shall be followed.
7. In all cases, civil or criminal, which come before the Court, where a foreign Assessor is sitting, and both parties are represented by counsel, before an attorney or counsel is admitted to practise in the Mixed Court, he must satisfy the Court that he has been admitted to practise in the Consular Court of his own nationality at Shanghae.
8. No alteration.
9. In cases involving principles where no precedents exist in Chinese law, the Court shall be governed by Chinese commercial custom and equity.
10. No alteration,
11. All parts of the present Rules and Regulations for the Mixed Court of Shanghae, not in conflict with these supplementary amendments, are hereby continued in full force, and the Chinese and foreign officials shall faithfully carry out the same.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Foreign Representatives at Peking to Prince Ch'ing.
Your Imperial Highness,
Peking, March 5, 1906. ON the 4th December of last year your Imperial Highness addressed a note to the doyen of the Diplomatic Body on the subject of the Supplementary Rules for the Mixed Court at Shanghae, transmitting the amendments proposed by the High Commissioner for Southern Trade to the draft which we had the honour to place before your Highness on the 5th January, 1905.
These amendments have now been carefully considered, and we have the honour to inclose herewith a revised draft, respecting the alterations in which we desire to make the following observations:-
Article 1 deals with the Court records, and it has seemed to us injurious to the reputation of the Court that while in police cases and in mixed civil cases there should be a complete record open to the inspection of the parties materially interested, for the remaining civil cases brought directly to the Court no record should be kept. We have, therefore, omitted the word "mixed" in clause (a) of this Article, and sub- stituted the wording of the original draft for clause (c). As regards clause (b), which defines the class of crimes with which the Court has competence to deal, we have added a note explaining that the punishment of beating must now be commuted to a fine, and we have omitted the words "not exceeding three years," as it seems to us that they unduly limit the powers of the Court.
In Article 2 we accept the emendation of the Board.
Article 3, dealing with the rank of the Magistrate, is of great importance. Ever since the foundation of the Court, one of its principal difficulties has been the subordinate position of the Magistrate, and in considering the proposal now made, we trust that it may be horne in mind that the Magistrate's functions differ from those of
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