Shanghai, Sept. 10.
Legal arguments on the question of whether the Italian Consulate- only' General in Shanghai, authorized by the Burgos (Nationslist) Govern ment in Spain to act as its representative here, has jurisdiction over Spaniards In Shanghai, occupied the whole of the hesting' of the action brought by the China Realty Ca, Federal Me,, U.S.A., against the At justinian Procuration and the China Motion Picture Finance Association the First Special District Court before Judge Li yesterday.
The plainiifls seek Judgment for $700,000 together with intere t, and $20,000 attorney's fees and costs, the Arst-named sum being, according to the plaintiffs, "loan to the Catholic Mission which gave a mortgage on the Hwa Shing Wharf, Pootung as security. This property was later' sold to the China Motion Picture Finance Association, they allege.
Representing the plaintiffs Mr. 1 ie, Yang of Yeh & Ca. proceeded with his ar#ument on jurisdiction and said that two letters had been received, one from the former Spanish Consul fand the other from the Italian Con sul both claiming jurisdiction over the Augustinian Procuration, On the question of jurisdiction, Mr, Yang stated that under Article 1 of the Rules of Procedure, the jurisdiction jof a court was determined by the residence of the defendant, Under Article 2, the jurisdiction' of the [Court over a foreign corporation or foreign organization capable to be party to an action was determined by the head office of, such corpora tion in China, Under Article 22, where the civil courts had jurisdiction over the same party, the plaintff might select one of such courts which" had furisdietion, Under Article 40, an" organization with representative might sue or be sued.
"In view of the above laws, the defendant,. Augustinian Procuration, which has a representative and has Its hend office at No, 2, 1220 Avenue Road, is certainly subject to the jurisdiction of this court, There may other courts which have jurisdle~ tion over this defendant, but the plaintiff has already selected this and has brought the action Mr. Yang continued.
Mr, Yang referred to the order of the Ministry of Justice No, 1314, which states, "Since the incident in Spain diplomatic offices of that country have withdrawn from China and Ihave abandoned their extraterritorial rights, There are no courts that nationality which can take jurisdiction in a case where a Span-{sh citizen or company is sued, In the interests of law and order, it is [decided that where a civil or criminal action ig brought against a Spanish citizen, all courts which Ihave jurisdiction shall take jurisdie~ tion over such Spanish citizens. We hereby order that our courts take jurisdiction over Spanish citizens where civil or criminal action is brought against Spanish citizens and they have to report to this Ministry of the proceedings taken in such case, 'MZ. Yang stated that under this order all Chinese courts are under Jobtigation to assume jurisdiction over Spanish citizens or companies and that their action should not interfered with by diplomatic officers of any country, As to the question lof the nationality of the Augustinian Procuration, Mr, Yang stated that he had produced Exhibits 7 and 8 to prove that the Augustinian Prolcuration was of Spanish nationality, He claimed that this was corroborate ed by the letter from the former Spanish Consul dated -August 12, 1998, 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 by {the Italian Consul-General of September 1, 1986, stating that the Augusninian' Procuration, a religious in—stitution, was Spanish before, He aimed that all this was conclusive evidence that the Augustinian Pro Jcuration was and still was of Spanish nationality, He then pointed out that the time jurisdiction over a-certain case is
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