This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government, and should be
•] returned to the Foreign Office if not required for official use.
11
57
(F.
34/10).
HO CHINA.
•
Cypher telegrem to Sir M. Lampson. (Nenking).
Foreign Office.
No. 57. (Four).
April 17th. 1931. 5.10.p.m.
Your telegram No. 68, paragraph 4 (of March
Extraterritoriality negotiations personal status).
1.
-
•
Attitude of Minister for Foreign Affairs towards
personal status matters is doubtless based on the assump-
tion that there will be no reserved areas. In that case
it would herdly be possible to maintain a British court in
China for personal status questions only, and we should
either have to let such cases go to the special chambers,
subject to such safeguards as we could secure, or follow
the Turkish precedent and provide that such cases go to
British Courts outside China, e.g. at Hongkong. It would
be useful in this connexion to know whether "British
jurisdiction" in clause B of your telegram under refer-
ence is intended to refer to such courts or whether the
Chinese contemplate that British courts would continue to
sit in China for the purpose.
2. Minister for Foreign Affairs may possibly modi-
fy his attitude when he realises that we cannot give way
over the question of reserved areas. If we succeed in
getting the four reserved areas, and perhaps even if we
only get Shanghai, the great bulk of personal status cases
would continue in any caco to come before our courts. The
number of coses that could go bofore Chinese courts would
be so small (especially if we do not secure the right of
residence in the interior) that much the most convenient
and/