OUTWARD TELEGRAM
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government, and should be kept under Lock and Key.]
182
[This telegram is of particular secrecy and should be retained
by the authorised recipient and not passed on]
F.8299/828/10.
[CYPHER]
WAR CABINET DISTRIBUTION
TO CHINA
FROM FOREIGN OFFICE TO CHUNGKING
135
No. 1603.
D. 10.5 p.m. 18th December, 1942.
18th December, 1942.
Repeated to Washington No. 560 Saving.
9999999
My telegram No. 1601 [of 18th December:
180
paragraph 5.
extraterritoriality]
Following is draft text on personal status :-
"It is understood that both High Contracting Parties recognise the principle of private international law by which the courts apply generally the personal law to determine matters of personal status. In the territories of His Majesty, according to the practice of Anglo-Saxon countries, the courts apply the law of the domicile of the person concerned as the personal law. In China, according to the practice of China and of many other countries, the courts apply the national alw of the person concerned, which means, in the case of a composite entity like the British Empire, the law of the territory from which that person originates."
2. If necessary you can make use of the passage in the draft in my telegram No. 1396 showing what the law of the domicile means.
O.T.P.