On the 10th Mr. An Yusha tick his post as hea of the Ssu Court, or the loxest of the throe farades of judicial tribunals, veplae-Ing Me, Lixo Y-chuan, Accord. ingly, nity of the judges fu this department will be replay by friends of the new appointee, and in the meanwhile them: ery of the Superior Court is about At a standstill. Few actions have Deen set for trial within the three weeks, oF since the rumen the change in the department sot abou Those who have the hest interests the Chinese government and the rt ave pray ing thag_the installation into oicc of Mr. An may mark another step forward, Tt it said that "Necessity knows no lave" and the predecessor of Mr. An ha been Tiekhamed "Necessity" by some who were aware that he had in his who life never opened a law book. Witkfut single day's legal training hho owes his. success in the loyal field to the existence of the spoils system, which is one of the greates of curs: s in China in this ent day and age, vf an influential poitieal leader, I has, holding tight to the coat tail of his chieftain, ben pulled alone into fee, And it. goes. withen: raying, the administration of the courts down here in. Kuangting is tone thing the government cannot one hundred yer cent, proad of.
On the other hand, @ small num: der of the judges have rendered valuable service; foreign trained man, they have been capable of rive cen juicy minded, when thinking along legal tines; they
as, the jiges of the old school have och stumbling alone in th Dlindness often well-intentioned, but without the genuine ability req to make ood Judicial oticers Less Graft in Courts Lass, and less heard about Focal goutts with the passing of ti Tt cannot be gain said that in this direction there has been a marked improvement. As a consequence, the courts have gob a better name, and have been frequented more and more by the general public. When case of dishonesty in office came to light some months back, the judge scoused was promptly put on rial, adjudged guilty, and sentencod to a term "of imprisonment. That lesson will not be soon forgotten.
Citizens of foreign lands, 00, have come to think better of Ruangtung's legal system. Frequently ate they have filed actions in the Superior Court and, on the whole, ave been impressed with the di sire of the judges to get at the truth and to render a just decision. But, on the whole, it has be father and son law that has applied; that is, being unacquainted with the true legal principles applicable to the case at issue, the Judges have made up their own law fas they have gone along, deciding fag to them what has appeared just, without reference to precedents or rules, of which they have generally: deen" grossly ignorant.
Yel, teking it by and large, thi way of deciding cases has not lo?
Lad taste in the meath of foreign fitgants, for even the application of "father and son law" has result ed in the rendering asa rule, of Preeminently fair decisions, Decially is this true of suits on eon tracts, and fully ninety per cen: are of this kind. of the actions started by foreigners A Test Case the evidence has been ta suit in the Superior Court which is of great interest to a! Persons who enjoy extraterritorial privileges in China. Tt is eases like this that put the Chinese court to the supreme test tal principle is were the ease being tried int courts of any Western land, the Judge would be prepared to sett! the controversy in_an hour's after the taking of testimony hiv started.
The plaintiff, a Chinese shop suing a German firm, agents. for an American fire insuratice cov Pany. Because the defendant a cepted the plaintiff's premium, hav ing sold to the latter a policy of insurances in the American pany, this Chines shop insists that the agent is liable to make good the loss which it has suffered by: Virtue of the burning of the insur ed property. It has been proven in court, under its agency: azreement, the defendant is bound rot to settle losses, which are adjusted by the insurance company directly, the claim, if admitted, being paid by the insurance company's and tut, the agent's cheque. The plaintitl is ready to admit that all these facts may be true, yet contents that an agent who accepts money from one should be obliged to make ood any loss which may oreur on the transaction, without reference to the powers' possessed by the agent. The writer has looked 1 the trial of this case: the judge has ordered hearing after hearing, has been floundering along indly, looking for a peg on which to hang his decision. The point Known to every first year law student in any for-ign land, yet the judge here ean-Rot sce right off that the principal And not the agent is the proper party defendant, Your correspondent has been informed that if this ease be wronifully decided, it may mean the can collation by two American fire surance companies of the agency agreements of all foreign agents that do not have extraterritorial rights.
The Appeal Court At present there is too much miss. If the foreign fi draws a judge who has studied in a modern lave college, he should be able to see the legal principle involved in the winking of an eye, otherwise the chances are it will be all mud to him. Above the Appellate Court, however, is the Sup-rome Court at Nanking, the highest tribunal in the land, and at least there competent men sit on the bench. This Court has been making an excellent record for itself, and is the one real safeguard of the entire legal system in China today. A pi that more at tention is not paid to improvise the personnel of the lower courts,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.