July, So far as we know there has been no official publication of the decision of the Diplomatic Body on the subject of the jurisdiction of the two Settlements 2t Shanghai, and we are not aware of the channel through which whit purports to be that decision has been made public; we can therefore interpret the decision only as it has been published, and we feel that the Municipal Council are entitled to the thanks of the foreign community in urging that the subject be brought to the attention of the proper authority in order that it might be clearly settled. It seems to us that the regulations which have been published, as embodying the decision of the Diplomatic Body, can be interpreted with greater clearness in immediate connection with the two cases out of which arose the issue between the Consular Body and the Municipal Council, and a brief reference to those cases and where they would be tried, if they were to come up anew, will determine in whose favour the Diplomatic Body has decided the issue, The first case was that of a coolie in the employment of the French firm of Messrs. Ulysse Pila & Ca, residing in the International Settlement. The coolie was charged with violate ing a Municipal regulation of the International Settlement, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of the coolie for trial in the International Mixed Court, but the Freach Consul-General refused to countersign the warrant. Now in accordance with the decision of the Diplomatic Body it would be the duty of the French Consul-General to countersign such warrant, and the coolie would b+ tried in the Mixed Court of the International Settlement where the offence charged was committed. In the al case the contention of the Municipal Council has been fully sustained.
The second case was that of a Chinese, residing on the French Concession, who had applied for and obtained from the French Mixed Court a warrant against a Chinese residing in the International Settlement, and the contention of the Municipal Council was that the Chinese residing in the International Settlement should not be sent to the French Mixed Court without having a preliminary hearing in the Mixed Court of the Settlement in which he resided. If) as similar case should come up again how would it be conducted} under the decision of the Diplomatic! Body? The answer to that question is given by the new regulation, which provides, that in all such cases the ling in the French ion would have to sue the Chinese residing in the International Settlement in the Mixed Court of the International Settlement; he cond not sue in the French Mixed Court at all, and the Diplomatic Body has gone further than the Municipal Council even, and decided, that in cases between Chinese only the plaintiff must sue the defendant in the Mixed Court of the settlement in which the defendant resides. The Council contended for a preliminary hearing, but the Diplomatic Body, fully sustaining the Council, decided that there shall not only be a preliminary hearing but a trial, Under the decision of the Diplomatic Body there is not a case that can arise when a Chinese, residing in the International Settlement, can be sent to the French Mixed Court for trial, except in the ease when a French citizen is plaintiff, and in all_other cases when a foreigner, not of French nationality, is plaintiff, the Chinese, whether residing in the International tlement or in the French Concession shall be tried in the Mixed Court of the International Settlement.
In the adjustment of the jurisdiction of the two Mixed Courts the Diplomatic Body has kept in view the principle of local government, for the regulations are no less explicit in providing that offenders against Manici 1d Police ordinances shall be tried in the Mixed Court of the Settlement in which the offence was committed. We congratulate the Municipal Council as well as the Consular Body that a clearer understanding now obtains on what has heretofore been a somewhat tacitly understood agreement on this subject of mixed jurisdiction, and the Ratepayers of Shanghai have done well in making known their views on that subject.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.