14514.
No. 93a.
(GERMAN PROTECTORATES IN SOUTH AND WEST AFRICA, THE SOUTH SEAS, AND ELSEWHERE.)
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TLC.O.885
13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
1
MY LORD,
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice, June 29, 1887.
We were honoured with the commands of the Secretary of State signified in Sir Julian Pauncefote's letter of the 18th December last, stating that he was directed by the Earl of Iddesleigh to transmit to us the papers noted in the accompanying list relative to the legal position of the German Protectorates in South and West Africa, the South Seas, and elsewhere, a question which had lately formed the subject of discussion between the Imperial German Government and that of Her Majesty.
That we should observo from Count Hatzfeldt's note verbale of the 29th August of last
ก
year that Protectorate proclaimed in the name of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany was not in its terms limited to the persons residing or sojourning in the protected territory, but extended to the district itself, and accordingly had a territorial character.
That all persons, morcover, being within such a Protectorate were, irrespectively of their nationality, subject to German jurisdiction, side by side with which the juris- diction of any other State could not be exercised.
That in the opinion of the Imporial German Government the right of exercising jurisdiction in the Protectorates was based upon the fact that the protected territories were placed under the German suzerainty, and the exercise of supreme justice was not dependent upon the territories being declared parts of the German Empire, nor was the German supreme jurisdiction derived from the native Chiefs existing in the Protectorates.
That at the same time, on grounds of expediency, jurisdiction over the natives had, in some cases, been left by treaty in the hands of their Chiefs.
That the practical convenience of the view to which legislative sauction, as far as Germany was concerned, had been given by the German Imperial Law of the 17th April 16, that a country which submitted to German protection, or to which, being an uncivilised place, German protection was extended without any submission, became ipso facto subject to the Reichstag, and to the laws made by that body, was evident; and that the Secretary of State would be glad to be favoured with our opinion as to whether or not the British Parliament also possessed, in analogous circumstances, a similar power to legislate for countries placed under British protection.
That the view taken by the German Imperial Government that all persons within a German Protectorate were, irrespective of "nationality, subject to German jurisdiction, indicated a conception of the rights and powers assumed by the establishment of a Protectorate which seemed to differ from that taken by the former Law Officers of the Crown, in advising Her Majesty's Government with reference to the extent of the jurisdiction exercisable by Her Majesty over the subjects of foreign civilised nations within British Protectorates.
That Sir Julian Pauncefote was specially to call our attention, as bearing upon the subject, to the various opinions of past Law Officers of the Crown which were sent therewith, and in which it would be observed that questions relating to the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts, which did not arise on the present reference, were to soine extent also involved; and that he was to request our opinion as to whether the views expressed by the German Imperial Government might be accepted in their entirety; and if not, in what respects and to what extent we considered that they wore open to objection.
That while requesting that we would take the papers transmitted therewith into our consideration, and that we would favour the Secretary of State with our opinion on the questions submitted in his letter, Sir Julian Paunccfote was also to ask that we would be good enough to add any general observations which we might have to offer on the case.
• 50069.-22. 25.-8,87.