THE UNITED STATES COURT FOR CHINA
(Chapter 3,934, Prescribing the Jurisdiction of the Court.)
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That a Court is hereby established, to be called the United States Court for China, which shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases and judicial proceedings whereof jurisdiction may now be exercised by United States Consuls and Ministers by law and by virtue of treaties between the United States andChina, except in so far as the said jurisdiction is qualified by Section 2 of this Act. The said Court shall hold sessions at Shanghai, China, and shall also hold sessions at the cities of Canton, Tientsin, and Hankow at stated periods, the dates of such sessions at each city to be announced in such manner as the Court shall direct, and a session of the Court shall be held in each of these cities at least once annually. It shall be within the power of the judge, upon due notice to the parties in litigation, to open and hold Court for the hearing of a special cause at any place permitted by the treaties, and where there is a United States Consulate, when, in his judgment, it shall be required by the convenience of witnesses, or by some public interest. The place of sitting of the Court shall be in the United States Consulate at each of the cities, respectively.
That the seal of the said United States Court for China shall be the arms of the United States, engraved on a circular piece of steel of the size of a half dollar, with these words on the margin, "The Seal of the United States Court for China."
The seal of said Court shall be provided at the expense of the United States. All writs and processes issuing from the said Court, and all transcripts, records, copies, jurats, acknowledgments, and other papers requiring certification or to be under seal, may be authenticated by said seal, and shall be signed by the clerk of said Court. All processes issued from the said Court shall bear test from the day of
such issue.
Sec. 2. The Consuls of the United States in the cities of China to which they are respectively accredited shall have the same jurisdiction as they now possess in civil cases where the sum or value of the property involved in the controversy does not exceed five hundred dollars United States money, and in criminal cases where the punishment for the offence charged can not exceed by law one hundred dollars' fine or sixty days' imprisonment, or both, and shall have power to arrest, examine, and discharge accused persons or commit them to the said Court. From all final judg ments of the Consular Court either party shall have the right of appeal to the United States Court for China: Provided, Also, That appeal may be taken to the United States Court for China from any final judgment of the Consular Courts of the United States in Korea so long as the rights of extra-territoriality shall obtain in favour of the United States. The said United States Court for China shall have and exercise supervisory control over the discharge by Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the duties prescribed by the laws of the United States relating to the estates of decedents in China. Within sixty days after the death in China of any citizen of the United States, or any citizen of any territory belonging to the United States, the Consul or Vice-Consul whose duty it becomes to take possession of the effects of such deceased person under the laws of the United States shall file with the clerk of said Court & sworn inventory of such effects, and shall as additional effects come from time to time into his possession, immediately file a supplemental inventory or inventories of
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