Mr, Yang stated that under this order mil Chinese courts are under, "obligation to assume jurisdiction over Spanish citizens or companies and thatwtheir action should mot be interfered with by diplomatic officers of any country, As to the question of thénationality of the Augustinian Procuration, Mr, Yang stated that the had produced Exhibits 7 and 8 to prove that the Augustinian Procuration was of Spanish nationality, He claimed that this was corroborate ed by the letter from the former Spanish Consul dated August 12, 11938, adding that even counsel for Augustinian Procuration admitted at the last hearing that the body was of. Spanish nationality, He also referred to a letter written to the court the Italian Consul-General of September 1, 1938, stating that the Augusninian Procuration, a religious institution, was Spanish before, He claimed that all this was: conclusive evidence that the Augustinian Procuration was and still was of Spanish nationality, He then pointed out that the time to determine whether ithe court has jurisdiction over a certain case is ithe time of filing of the action, He, referred to Article 27 of the Civil Procedure on this.point, and -said that after the filing in this action on July 28, 1980, the court on August 29 was confronted with a certificate produced by the counsel for the Augustinian Procuration. The Certificate rend as follows:—"To whom it may concern, this is to certify that the Augustinian Procurdtion in Shanghai is under the Ttalian jurisdiction, Shanghai, 25th August, 1938, Acting '\Consul General for Italy."
This certificate was followed by a letter from tthe ützlian Consul General (on Septeniber 1, 1938, and he read un extract from the letter which this mission, It ds common knowledge that many Chinese register their real property through foreign agents in he foreign consulates in Shanghai, but that does not oust the jurisdiction of this court over such Chinese. He also states that the fact that certain members of the Augustinian Procuration have registered themselves with the Italian Consulate is also no legal ground to oust this court of its lawful jurisdic tion over this mission. Needless tto, say there are Chinese, Spanish amd other foreign Christians who belong to the Augustinian Procuration—there cannot be such a thing as all the members of that Church registering themselves with the Italian Consulate," Mx. Yung added.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.