8th June.
terday's ame thet the Hous. of telegram, which appeared in yee THE ome. conveyed in Reuter' Representatives at Washington has the Bill introdnecd by Mr. Denby for creating a United Stites District Court for China—cannot but give the greatest satisfac all Americans resident in China, well as to people of other occasional! to seek redress in the nationality who are cornbell American Goneular Courts, Ifrati fied, the Bill, the full text of which, as originally introduced, is printed in this issue, will relieve the energetic Conaul-General here of large portion of the multifarious duties with which he has had to cope in the dual capacity of Consul-General and Judge, and will put an end to the frequent assertions of Counsel that the official trying ease may view it, quite unconsciously, from a prejudiced point of view, having come in. contact with one of the parties in the capacity of Consul-General before trying the matter in dispute as Judge. The new Bill, if it becomes law, will also tend to to the innumerable quibbles—so frequent hitherto in the American Consular Court—as to the jurisdiction of the Court and ite presiding officer.
The proposed District Court for China is to have original jurisdiction in all cases anc 3 ceedings, whereof jurisdiction may now be exercised by the Unived States Ministers and Conanls by virtue of the existing treaties between the United States and Chin with the exception that jurisdic ior in civil cases in which the value the property involved does not exceed $500 (Gold) nnd criminal cases in which the punishment cannot by law exceed a fine of $100 (Gold) or sixty days' imprisonment, and other jurisdiction as to arrest, examination, discharge, and com-mitral for trial, remain in Consul-General hands as jar powers to those enjoyed by the British Police Magistrate and Assistant Judgo—with a difference in the latter case as to amount. The Bill settles soother very vexed question by definitely establishing the procedure for appeal which lier, both civil and criminal eases, from the judgment of the proposed District Court to the Circuit of Appeals of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, whence appeals and writs of error may betoken to the Supreme Court of the United States, in cases in which similar appeals are allowed fiom District. and Circuit Court in the United States, and sutjccts to the procedure governing such last-to Plicable. mentioned appeals so far as ap-Hitherto there has been much question as to how far appeal was permissible and to what Court it could be made. Jurisdiction in both the Consular and proj District Court is to be exercised and enforced in conformity with the laws of the United States, except when the latter are deficient in the provisions necessary to give jurisdiction or to furnish suitable remedies, in which case the Common Law and the Law of Equity and Admiralty are to apply so far as the terms of the treaties justify and require, So far as practicable, the procedure is to remain the same as the existing procedure, as laid dwn in Section 4,086 of the Revised Statutes, but the Judge is to have authority from time to time to modify and supplement the rules of procedure, The sixth section of the Bill determines the salaries of the judge and his subordinates, with necessry additions i ions in the cases of [sessions held other than at Shanghai and Section 1X confirms the present tariff of fees; all fees to be puld ~|into the Treasury of the United States, There appears to have been some amendment or extension of the Bill in the course of its discussion for, accor ling to Reuter, a Court is also to be held once a year at Hankow, where presumably the same machinery and appointment lof deputy court officials wil be provided as at Canton and Tientsin; in the Bill as first prs: nted there is no mention of the central metropolis of China but there is the general provision that it shall be within the power of the Judge, upon due notice to the parties in litigation, to open and he'd Court for the hearing of a special cause at any plies permitted by the tres, and where there is a United States Consula'e. Another omission in the original bill would s em to be any reference to the professional qualifications of the Judge, where tenure of office is, however, fixed for fifteen years, and whose stipend is also made a fixed sum, not. dependable upon fees, Ju connection with this important reform now contemplated by the Lower House of Congress, it may be recalled that the British Supreme Court in China was established as Tong ago as 1865, and that the office of Chief Justice, since abolished in title, though its powers i ed nuder the last in 1878, The dignity and prestige which have attached to the British posed Court and ite Judges, have inspired confidence in litigants of all nations, and we cin wish nothing better for the American District Court than that it may build up a tesdition of equal authority and weight.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.