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Meantime the number of proteges seemed to be increasing
and the Magistrate asked Mr. Tenney and myself whether the Court could not take some steps to put a stop to the scandal. I suggested that the Court should simply assume jurisdiction in
such cases, basing its decision on the Chinese law that a Chinese citizen could not divest himself of his nationality
without the sanction of the Ministry of the Interior.
at any rate bring matters to a head. The Magistrates fully
approved.
This would
On
An opportunity soon occurred for applying our decision.
On April 22 a warrant was issued for a man Liang Yun Sheng.
the warrant being executed he produced a certificate of Spanish
protection dated March 14, 1922 whereon he was released by the
police. The matter was referred to the Senior Magistrate
(Mr. Kwen) and myself, and we directed the police to arrest the
accused in spite of his certificate of protection and bring
him before the Mixed Court when we would listen to his plea to the
Jurisdiction. He was accordingly re-arrested and brought before
Magistrate L1 and myself on April 28th, when we decided to assume
jurisdiction in spite of the accused's plea that he was a
Spanish protege, and in spite of a letter from the Spanish
consul claiming jurisdiction over him. I attach copy of the
official Court report of the proceedings, The complainant
being a Japanese, the case was remanded for the Japanese
Assessor, who was sitting the following morning with Magistrate
Tsang. This Court also asserted its intention of assuming
jurisdiction, and remanded the accused in custody for a special
hearing.
om 1
Meanwhile