1917

THE UNITED STATES COURT EOR CHINA
(Chapter 3,934, Prescribing the Jurisdiction of the Court.)
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States1
of America in Congress Assembled, That a Court is hereby established, to be called5
che 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 and China, 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'
held 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 sicned 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 cannot 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 exerci-e
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 < f such deceased-
person under the laws of the United States shall file with the clerk • f said Court a
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