1908.

ARBITRATION CONVENTION.

Signed at Washington February 10, 1908; ratification advised by the Senate February 19, 1908; ratified by the President February 27, 1908; ratifications exchanged at Washington March 12, 1908; proclaimed March 14, 1908.

I. Differences to be submitted. II. Special agreement.

ARTICLES.

III. Ratification.

The Government of the United States of America and the Government of the French Republic, signatories of the Convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes, concluded at The Hague on the 29th July, 1899;

Taking into consideration that by Article XIX of that Convention the High Contracting Parties have reserved to themselves the right of concluding Agreements, with a view to referring to arbitration all questions which they shall consider possible to submit to such treatment,

Have authorized the Undersigned to conclude the following arrangement:

ARTICLE I.

Differences which may arise of a legal nature, or relating to the interpretation of treaties existing between the two Contracting Parties, and which it may not have been possible to settle by diplomacy, shall be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration established at The Hague by the Convention of the 29th July, 1899, provided, nevertheless, that they do not affect the vital interests, the independence, or the honor of the two Contracting States, and do not concern the interests of third Parties.

ARTICLE II.

In each individual case the High Contracting Parties, before appealing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, shall conclude a special Agreement defining clearly the matter in dispute, the scope of the powers of the Arbitrators, and the periods to be fixed for the formation of the Arbitral Tribunal and the several stages of the procedure. It is understood that on the part of the United States such special agreements will be made by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and on the part of France they will be subject to the procedure required by the constitutional laws of France.

ARTICLE III.

The present Convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; it shall become effective on the day of such ratification, and shall remain in force for a period of five years thereafter. Done in duplicate in the English and French languages, at Washington, this tenth day of February, in the year 1908.

ELIHU ROOT [SEAL]
JUSSERAND [SEAL]

GERMAN EMPIRE.

The formation of the German Empire in 1871 by the consolidation of the North German Union, etc., has in some instances abrogated the treaties entered into with the independent German governments now embraced in the Empire, but reference is here given to all the separate governments with which treaties have been concluded.

See Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Brunswick and Lüneberg, Hanover, Hanseatic Republics, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, MecklenburgStrelitz, Nassau, North German Union, Oldenburg, Prussia, Saxony, Schaumburg-Lippe, Württemburg.

1871.

CONSULAR CONVENTION."

Concluded December 11, 1871; ratification advised by the Senate January 18, 1872; ratified by the President January 26, 1872; ratifications exchanged April 29, 1872: proclaimed June 1, 1872.

I. Consular officers.

II. Exequaturs.

III. Privileges and immunities.

IV. Arms and flags.

V. Inviolability of consulates.

VI. Temporary vacancies.

VII. Consular agencies.

ARTICLES.

VIII. Communications with authorities.
IX. Notarial authority.

X. Property of decedents.

XI. Effects of deceased sailors and passengers.

XII. Authority over ships.

XIII. Disputes between officers and crews of ships.

XIV. Deserters from ships.

XV. Damages to vessels at sea. XVI. Shipwrecks.

XVII. Trade-mark protection.

XVIII. Duration; ratification.

Protocol. As to meaning of "property," and "deceased citizens."

The President of the United States of America and His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, in the name of the German Empire, led by the wish to define the rights, privileges, immunities and duties of the respective Consular Agents, have agreed upon the conclusion of a Consular Convention, and for that purpose have appointed their Plenipotentiaries, namely:

The President of the United States of America, George Bancroft, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the said States, near His Majesty the Emperor of Germany; His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, Bernard König, His Privy Councillor of Legation; who have agreed to and signed the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

Each of the Contracting Parties agrees to receive from the other Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in all

a Federal cases: The Burchard (42 Fed. Rep., 608), Richter v. Reynolds (59 Fed. Rep., 577), The Neck (138 Fed. Rep., 144), The Baker (171 Fed. Rep., 485).

its ports, cities and places, except those where it may not be convenient to recognize such officers. This reservation, however, shall not apply to one of the Contracting Parties without also applying to every other Power.

ARTICLE II.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents shall be reciprocally received and recognized, on the presentation of their commissions, in the forms established in their respective countries. The necessary exequatur for the exercise of their functions shall be furnished to them free of charge, and, on the exhibition of this instrument, they shall be admitted at once, and without difficulty, by the territorial authorities, Federal, State or communal, judicial, or executive of the ports, cities and places of their residence and district, to the enjoyment of the prerogatives reciprocally granted. The Government that furnishes the exequatur reserves the right to withdraw the same on a statement of the reasons for which it has thought proper to do so.

ARTICLE III.

The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents, as well as their Chancellors and Secretaries, shall enjoy in the two countries all privileges, exemptions and immunities which have been granted, or may in future be granted, to the Agents of the same rank of the most favored nation. Consular officers, not being citizens of the country where they are accredited, shall enjoy, in the country of their residence, personal immunity from arrest or imprisonment except in the case of crimes, exemption from military billetings and contributions, from military service of every sort and other public duties, and from all direct or personal or sumptuary taxes, duties and contributions, whether Federal, State or municipal. If, however, the said consular officers are or become owners of property in the country in which they reside, or engage in commerce, they shall be subject to the same taxes and imposts, and to the same jurisdiction, as citizens of the country, property-holders or merchants. But under no circumstances shall their official income be subject to any tax. Consular officers who engage in commerce shall not plead their consular privileges to avoid their commercial liabilities. Consular officers of either character shall not in any event be interfered with in the exercise of their official functions, further than is indispensable for the administration of the laws of the country.

ARTICLE IV.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents may place over the outer door of their offices, or of their dwellings, the arms of their nation, with the proper inscription indicative of the office. And they may also hoist the flag of their country on the consular edifice, except in places where a legation of their country is established.

They may also hoist their flag on board any vessel employed by them in port for the discharge of their duty.

ARTICLE V.

The consular archives shall be at all times inviolable, and under no pretence whatever shall the local authorities be allowed to examine or seize the papers forming part of them. When, however, a consular officer is engaged in other business, the papers relating to the consulate shall be kept in a separate enclosure.

The offices and dwellings of Consules missi who are not citizens of the country of their residence shall be at all times inviolable. The local authorities shall not, except in the case of the pursuit for crimes, under any pretext invade them. In no case shall they examine or seize the papers there deposited. In no event shall those offices or dwellings be used as places of asylum.

ARTICLE VI.

In the event of the death, prevention or absence of Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents, their Chancellors or Secretaries, whose official character may have previously been made known to the respective authorities in Germany or in the United States, may temporarily exercise their functions, and, while thus acting, they shall enjoy all the rights, prerogatives and immunities granted by this convention to the incumbents.

ARTICLE VII.

Consuls-General and Consuls may, with the approbation of their respective Governments, appoint Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in the cities, ports and places within their consular jurisdiction. These officers may be citizens of Germany, of the United States, or any other country. They shall be furnished with a commission by the Consul who appoints them and under whose orders they are to act, or by the Government of the country which he represents. They shall enjoy the privileges stipulated for consular officers in this convention, subject to the exceptions specified in Article III.

ARTICLE VIII.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents shall have the right to apply to the authorities of the respective countries, whether Federal or local, judicial or executive, within the extent of their consular district, for the redress of any infraction of the treaties and conventions existing between the two countries, or of international law; to ask information of said authorities, and to address said authorities to the end of protecting the rights and interests of their countrymen, especially in cases of the absence of the latter: in which cases such Consuls, etc., shall be presumed to be their legal representatives. If due notice should not be taken of such application, the consular officers aforesaid, in the absence of a diplomatic agent of their country, may apply directly to the Government of the country where they reside.

ARTICLE IX.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents of the two countries, or their Chancellors, shall have the right, conformably the laws and regulations of their country.

1. To take at their office or dwelling, at the residence of the parties, or on board of vessels of their own nation, the depositions of the captains and crews, of passengers on board of them, of merchants, or of any other citizens of their own country.

2. To receive and verify unilateral acts, wills and bequests of their countrymen, and any and all acts of agreement entered upon between citizens of their own country, and between such citizens and the citizens or other inhabitants of the country where they reside; and also all contracts between the latter, provided they relate to property situated or to business to be transacted in the territory of the nation by which the said consular officers are appointed.

All such acts of agreement and other instruments, and also copies and translations thereof, when duly authenticated by such ConsulGeneral, Consul, Vice-Consul or Consular Agent, under his official seal, shall be received by public officials, and in courts of justice as legal documents, or as authenticated copies, as the case may be, and shall have the same force and effect as if drawn up or authenticated by competent public officers of one or the other of the two countries.

ARTICLE X.

In case of the death of any citizen of Germany in the United States, or of any citizen of the United States, in the German Empire, without having in the country of his decease any known heirs or testamentary executors by him appointed, the competent local authorities shall at once inform the nearest consular officer of the nation to which the deceased belongs of the circumstance, in order that the necessary information may be immediately forwarded to parties interested.

The said consular officer shall have the right to appear personally or by delegate in all proceedings on behalf of the absent heirs or creditors, until they are duly represented.

In all successions to inheritances, citizens of each of the contracting parties shall pay in the country of the other such duties only as they would be liable to pay, if they were citizens of the country in which the property is situated or the judicial administration of the same may be exercised.

ARTICLE XI.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents of the two countries are exclusively charged with the inventorying and the safe-keeping of goods and effects of every kind left by sailors or passengers on ships of their nation who die, either on board ship or on land, during the voyage or in the port of destination.

ARTICLE XII.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents shall be at liberty to go either in person or by proxy on board vessels of their nation admitted to entry and to examine the officers and crews, to examine the ships' papers, to receive declarations concerning their voyage, their destination, and the incidents of the voyage; also to draw up manifests and lists of freight, to facilitate the entry and