papers found on board such stranded or wrecked ship or vessel, shall be given up to the owners or their agents, when claimed by them. If such owners or agents are not on the spot, the aforesaid property or proceeds from the sale thereof and the papers found on board the vessel shall be delivered to the proper Consular Officer of the High Contracting Party whose vessel is wrecked or stranded, provided that such Consular Officer shall make claim within the period fixed by the laws, ordinances and regulations of the country in which the wreck or stranding occurred, and such Consular Officers, owners or agents shall pay only the expenses incurred in the preservation of the property, together with the salvage or other expenses which would have been payable in the case of the wreck of a national vessel. The goods and merchandise saved from the wreck shall be exempt from all duties of the customs unless cleared for consumption, in which case they shall pay ordinary duties. In the case of a ship or vessel belonging to the citizens or subjects of one of the High Contracting Parties being driven in by stress of weather, run aground or wrecked in the territories or possessions of the other, the proper Consular Officers of the High Contracting Party to which the vessel belorgs, shall, if the owners or their agents are not present, or are present but require it, be authorized to interpose in order to afford the necessary assistance to the citizens or subjects of his State. ARTICLE XI. The vessels of war of each of the High Contracting Parties may enter, remain and make repairs in those ports and places of the other to which the vessels of war of other nations are accorded access; they shall there submit to the same regulations and enjoy the same honors, advantages, privileges and exemptions as are now, or may hereafter be conceded to the vessels of war of any other nation. ARTICLE XII. The citizens or subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the territories and possessions of the other, upon fulfilment of the formalities prescribed by law, the same protection as native citizens or subjects, or the citizens or subjects of the nation most favored in these respects, in regard to patents, trade-marks, trade-names, designs and copyrights. ARTICLE XIII. Each of the High Contracting Parties may appoint Consuls General, Consuls, Vice Consuls and other Consular officers or Agents to reside in the towns and ports of the territories and possessions of the other where similar officers of other Powers are permitted to reside. Such Consular Officers and Agents, however, shall not enter upon their functions until they shall have been approved and admitted by the Government to which they are sent. They shall be entitled to exercise all the powers and enjoy all the honors, privileges, exemptions and immunities of every kind which are, or may be, accorded to Consular Officers of the most favored nation. ARTICLE XIV. In case of the death of any subject of Siam in the United States or of any citizen of the United States in Siam without having in the country of his decease any known heirs or testamentary executors by him appointed, the competent local authorities shall at once inform the nearest Consular Officer of the nation to which the deceased belonged, in order that the necessary information may be immediately forwarded to parties interested. In the event of any citizens or subjects of either of the High Contracting Parties dying without will or testament, in the territory of the other Contracting Party, the Consul General, Consul, Vice Consul, or other Consular Officer or Agent, of the nation to which the deceased belonged, or, in his absence, the representative of such Consul General, Consul, Vice Consul, or other Consular Officer or Agent, shall, so far as the laws of each country will permit and pending the appointment of an administrator and until letters of administration have been granted, take charge of the personal property left by the deceased for the benefit of his lawful heirs and creditors. ARTICLE XV. It is understood by the High Contracting Parties that the stipulations contained in this Treaty do not in any way affect, supersede, or modify any of the laws, ordinances and regulations with regard to trade, naturalization, immigration, police and public security which are in force or which may be enacted in either of the two countries. ARTICLE XVI. The present Treaty shall, from the date of the exchange of ratifications thereof, be substituted in place of the Convention of Amity and Commerce concluded at Bangkok on the 20th day of March, 1833,1 of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce concluded at Bangkok on the 29th day of May, 1856,2 and of the Agreement regulating liquor traffic in Siam concluded at Washington on the 14th day of May, 1884, and' of all arrangements and agreements subsidiary thereto concluded or existing between the High Contracting Parties, and from the same date, such conventions, treaties, arrangements and agreements shall cease to be binding. ARTICLE XVII. The present Treaty shall come into effect on the date of the exchange of ratifications and shall remain in force for ten years from that date. In case neither of the High Contracting Parties should have notified twelve months before the expiration of the said ten years the intention of terminating it, it shall remain binding until the expiration of one year from the day on which either of the High Contracting Parties shall have denounced it. 1 For text see Vol. II, p. 1626. For text see Vol. II, p. 1637. It is clearly understood, however, that such denunciation shall not have the effect of reviving any of the treaties, conventions, arrangements or agreements mentioned in Article XVI hereof. ARTICLE XVIII. This Treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged, either at Washington or Bangkok, as soon as possible. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Treaty and have thereunto affixed their seals. Done in duplicate, in the English language, at Washington, the sixteenth day of December in the nineteen hundred and twentieth year of the Christian Era, corresponding to the sixteenth day of the ninth month in the two thousand four hundred and sixty-third year of the Buddhist Era. NORMAN H. DAVIS [SEAL.] ANNEX PROTOCOL CONCERNING JURISDICTION APPLICABLE IN THE KINGDOM OF SIAM TO AMERICAN CITIZENS AND OTHERS ENTITLED TO THE PROTECTION OF THE UNITED STATES. At the moment of proceeding this day to the signature of the new Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the United States and the Kingdom of Siam, the Plenipotentiaries of the two High Contracting Parties have agreed as follows: ARTICLE I. The system of jurisdiction heretofore established in Siam for citizens of the United States and the privileges, exemptions and immunities now enjoyed by the citizens of the United States in Siam as a part of or appurtenant to said system shall absolutely cease and determine on the date of the exchange of ratifications of the above-mentioned Treaty and thereafter all citizens of the United States and persons, corporations, companies and associations entitled to its protection in Siam shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Siamese Courts. ARTICLE II. Until the promulgation and putting into force of all the Siamese Codes, namely, the Penal Code, the Civil and Commercial Codes, the Codes of Procedure and the Law for Organization of Courts and for a period of five years thereafter, but no longer, the United States, through its Diplomatic and Consular Officials in Siam, whenever in its discretion it deems it proper so to do in the interest of justice, by means of a written requisition addressed to the judge or judges of the Court in which such case is pending, may invoke any case pending in any Siamese Court, except the Supreme or Dika Court, in which an American citizen or a person, corporation, company or association entitled to the protection of the United States, is defendant or accused. Such case shall then be transferred to said Diplomatic or Consular Official for adjudication and the jurisdiction of the Siamese Court over such case shall thereupon cease. Any case so evoked shall be disposed of by said Diplomatic or Consular official in accordance with the laws of the United States properly applicable, except that as to all matters coming within the scope of Codes or Laws of the Kingdom of Siam regularly promulgated and in force, the texts of which have been communicated to the American Legation in Bangkok, the rights and liabilities of the parties shall be determined by Siamese law. For the purpose of trying such cases and of executing any judgments which may be rendered therein, the jurisdiction of the American Diplomatic and Consular officials in Siam is continued. Should the United States perceive, within a reasonable time after the promulgation of said Codes, any objection to said Codes, namely, the Penal Code, the Civil and Commercial Codes, the Codes of Procedure and the Law for Organization of Courts, the Siamese Government will endeavor to meet such objections. ARTICLE III. Appeals by citizens of the United States or by persons, corporations, companies or/and associations entitled to its protection, from judgments of Courts of First Instance in cases to which they may be parties, shall be adjudged by the Court of Appeal at Bangkok. An appeal on a question of law shall lie from the Court of Appeal at Bangkok to the Supreme or Dika Court. A citizen of the United States or a person, corporation, company or association entitled to its protection, who is defendant or accused in any case arising in the Provinces may apply for a change of venue and should the Court consider such change desireable the trial shall take place either at Bangkok or before the judge in whose Court the case would be tried at Bangkok. ARTICLE IV. In order to prevent difficulties which may arise from the transfer of jurisdiction contemplated by the present Protocol, it is agreed, (a) All cases in which action shall be taken subsequently to the date of the exchange of ratifications of the above-mentioned Treaty, shall be entered and decided in the Siamese Courts, whether the cause of action arose before or after the date of said exchange of ratifications. (b) All cases pending before the American Diplomatic and Consular officials in Siam on said date shall take their usual course before such officials until such cases have been finally disposed of, and the jurisdiction of the American Diplomatic and Consular officials shall remain in full force for this purpose. In connection with any case coming before the American Diplomatic or Consular officials under clause (b) of Article IV, or which may be evoked by said officials under Article II, the Siamese authorities shall upon request by such Diplomatic or Consular officials lend their assistance in all matters pertaining to the case. In WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have hereto signed their names and affixed their seals, this sixteenth day of December, in the nineteen hundred and twentieth year of the Christian Era, corresponding to the sixteenth day of the ninth month in the two thousand four hundred and sixty-third year of the Buddhist Era. [SEAL.] NORMAN H. DAVIS [EXCHANGE OF NOTES.] (Treaty Series, No. 655.) [The Siamese Minister to the Acting Secretary of State.] Mr. Secretary: SIAMESE LEGATION, Washington, December 16, 1920. Referring to Article I of the treaty signed by us this day which provides among other things for the leasing and ownership of real property in Siam by Americans, I have the honor to state that: 1. As to the lands for which the missions now possess papers of any kind or of which the missions are otherwise in legal occupation they should apply to have title papers issued in the regular way. 2. As to the lands held under lease from Government, the Siamese Government will not interrupt the possession by the missions as long as they continue to use the land for mission purposes. 3. However, in Ratburi the Mission is now occupying a house belonging to the Siamese Government; this must be returned when asked for. 4. It should be understood that the Siamese Government is not identified with Wat administration; that is to say, the foregoing understanding must not be construed as a promise by the Government to interfere with lands held and claimed by religious authorities, whether Buddhists or of any other faith. 5. Of course, all Mission lands are held subject to the exercise by the Siamese Government of the right of eminent domain. I avail myself of the occasion to offer to you the renewed assurances of my highest consideration. PRABHA KARAVONGSE The Honorable, NORMAN H. DAVIS, Acting Secretary of State. |