A case involving a question of Jurisdiction and having an im-Portant bearing on the relations of foreigners and Chinese in Shanghai was heard by Judge John ©. H. Wu. in the Shanghai Provisional Gourt on Thursday, when Elof Hanson ued Mrs. ¥.C. Cheng and others in Gonnection "with a piece of land near Li Yuen Road, West Gate, Nantao, Plaintiff was represented by Mr. 4H. D. Rodger, and Mr, L. C, Yang' appeared for the defence.
Plaintiff's petition showed that, on August 6, 1924, the deceased husband of the first defendant conveyed and transferred to the Strom-wall Trading Ca, the land in pas ment for Tis, 15,000 worth of "B' shares of the said company's stock, which he had purchased, On July' 19, 1927, the Stromwall Trading Go. mortgaged the land to plainti 3 security for the payment of Tls. 15,800, When plaintiff tate investigated the legal title of the iand, he found that four bills of sale'were missing. Demands were made on defendants for the payment of Tls. 15,300 in cash or the! missing documents, but defendants failed to meet.' the demands. Plaintiff, the petition continued, was entitled to foreclose on the land te realize it in cash for pay: ment of the sum mentioned, and f%0 ho prayed for an order ' that the land be sold by private sale, or Auction, or for the payment of Tls. 15,200, ete, The Defence Defendants denied the allegation in tole, und suid that' plaintiff hi right to interfere im. the cas In their answer, they stated that they had been living for the past re years and were still living out-ide" the Settlement limits," The Jand in dispute way also" situated Outside the Settlement. Deceased, was stated, subscribed for Tis, 15,000 "BY shares in. the Strom= wall Trading Ca,, and the deeds for the land were deposited with the company, No mortgage deed was executed by deceased, " Plai tiff had no right to accept alleged mortgage, nor did the Stromwall Trading Ca. have any right to mortgage the property. Defendants further alleged that deceased and one Ling Siu-liang Cstublished the Stromwall 'Trading, Ca, with a capital of Tis, 80,000 as limited liability company, and deceased was elected chairman of. the board of directors, Upon death, the board of directors, at defendants' request, entrusted the deeds to Ling Siu-liang, and all the members signed a document to that effect. After all the foreign managers went home, the management was turned over to Ling, daring whose administration for a year there had been mismanagement, and misconduct. 'Three months before the expiration of the agrooment, defendants notified the company' of their withdrawal and asked for an accounting. A report was received by them in which it was stated that there had been a loss of Tis, 69,000 or more, In view of this, the answer continued, "it elearly appears. that Ling " Siu-liang' planned to defraud the defendants and fraudulently secured fore fagsistance, and the plaintiff, in con-ction with Ling, merely abused his extraterritorial" rights to. op-Press a widow and an orphan."
Civil Law Quoted The following reasons were then given in the answer 1, Art, 14 of the Chinese Civil Procedure provides that actions must be brought before the Court of the general forum of the de-fondant, unless an exclusive Jurisdiction is provided by law. he general forum of a person is determined by his residence. Art. 25 of the same law provides that actions concerning real rights immovables" or concerning partition boundaries of immovables shall be: within the exclusive! jurisdiction of the court of the place where euch. jimmovables are situate, In view of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.