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The Hon. Attorney General,
Hongkong, Jamiary 10th, 1922.
sir,
Present.
Other
re Enemy Shares on Shanghai Register.
The Custodian of Enemy Property has informed us
that H.E. the Governor has received a despatch from the
Secretary of State for the Colonies with reference to this
matter in which the Secretary of State informs him that he
is advised that property represented by shares in Companies
must be regarded as situated in the Country where the Company is incorporated and has its Head Office irrespective of whether they are on the Head Office Register or on a Branch Register, and further that if the Custodian issued a
certificate under Section 1 (XVII) of the Treaty of Peace
Order in Council the same would be final and conclusive and
incapable of resistance,
We have consulted our legal advisers on the
matter and they point out that the Secretary of State does not appear to have quoted the reasons or authorities on which his advisers base their opinion that the shares in question are property situate in Hongkong and the despatch therefore does not furnish them with further materials upon
which to reconsider their previous opinion.
We are advised that the Judgment of Carrington J
in the Case of Attorney General ▼ Jacques was on the very
issue as to whether or not shares on the Shanghai register were property situate in Hongkong and that this Judgment is in diametrical opposition to the opinion referred to by the Secretary of State. This Judgment whether sound or not is we are advised the law of the Colony until overruled,
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