The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-01-12 00:00:00

BRITISH CAPITAL IN FRANC:'.

The statement recently made in tit. House ,r
Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchey,,,
respecting the testamentary power or atli IA I v
France over their property vridesil in the Frrnc't
funds, having canoed much anxiety in this ro,i.,•rr,
we have been induced, for the satisfoction
readers, to translate the following notice of the Cate
from the Moniteu r.

" The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the Lt.
Ling of Parliament of the Decerohei too, r,
reported to have said, that according to the Fr.,,,
laws, Englishmen possessing property in the Frrt,,:t
foods could not dispose of it by will as they could
by the laws of England, but that the 'tannin,' or
this portion of their socce.sion should be made ;11
conformity to the laws of Prance.'

" The French law is neceissrily less known in
Englund than in France. The errors which miv
be committed upon this subject, even by the mmt
eminent for their wisdom, might therefore elicit.. i.o
surprise, hot it is for the interest of both coulants
that they should be rectified.

" The law of the 14th of July, 1819, was not
acted to alter the pre-existing law : it only pave
foreigners possessed of property situated in Frio.,
the power of disposing of this properly, which
did not previously enjoy, except when their G
vernments respectively granted by reciprocity oil.
same power to Frenchmen. It abrogated the 717 1%
and the 914th Art, of the Civil Code. These Ar.
tides related only to immoveable or rem, property,
to property possessed in land.' (Art. 726.)
" But the low established in Femme, (ruin whir',
neither the 726th or the glith Art. of the Col,,
AN the law of the 14th of J uly. 1819. derogated,
that foreigners might, notwithstanding the dr••it
d'aubaine, dispose, its the event of death, of the
reifies that they possessed in France; that Ili-.r
heirs, either testamentary or on intestacy. were ad.
milted to these reales, which were remitted to then
as if they had themselves been possesse4 of then.
" Tons was founded upon a great nornher
limo, too well known to render it necessary here to
repeat them, and aid] regard to England, without
speaking of !previous treaties, this right was •iiii
more specially recognised by the 13t:. Art, of
Treaty of Utrecht, and by the declaration
io consequence, on the 19th of July, 1739. and re.
gistered in the Pairliatnetit or Paris o the 4th of
♦ugust following, in these terms :
". it is permitted to the subjects of Great Dr;.
lain to dispose of all their moveable effects whicit
now or shall hereafter belong to them, on the .lay
of their decease, in the territories and places sub-
ject to our dominion ; and whether they die testate
or intestate, their heirs, executor*, or administra-
tors, residing in places subject to our dominion, or
coming from elsewhere, although they be not en-
rolled in the number of our native subjects, may
receive and peaceably enjoy the said property Ina
effects, whatever they be, according to the lairs of
Great Britain.'

" It is then erroneous to suppose that the sae.
cessions of Englishmen, with regard to their rester,
and other moveable or personal property, shall he
determined in France according to the Freshet'
laws, unless the law of the 14th of July derogstes
from the laws above cited. But the law of the
14th of July is far front pronouncing mach a (Irru-
ption. The first article gives to foreigners the
right of succeeding. disposing, and purchasing iu
the some manner as Frenchmen.

" As to moveables, it gives nothing to those who
had already the capacity of disposing or of pur-
chasing them. It gives nothing only to those a ho
had not the power of succeeding to real property.
to these it gives the power of disposing and of pur-
chasing in the same manner as if they were Freocle.
men. In granting them a hew capacity it took lint
from them a pre-existing capacity. This would
have been contrary to the object of the law, which
was to favour foreigners more than they were favour-
ed previously.
44 Could it he the provisions of the 2,1 A•tick of
the law of the 14th of July, 1819, that inspired
such terrors into the English capitalists in Frame !
This article, which relates to COWS in winch French
heirs concur with foreigners, makes no alteration in
the right which foreigners had to dispose of their
reales, according to their own pleasure ; for the
article relates only to immoveables, with regard to
which it was deemed desirable to remove the exist-
ing incapacities. The article speaks of property
situated is 'ranee, by which is understood immove-
able property, for although moveables might
equally be understood by the word property, yet
here property is particularised by the expression
situated, which f it. Nodes, unless they be
derived from land. are not annexed to the and; they
are due in France, but are not situated there;
they are supposed to be in the hands of the pro-
prietor, who its effect possesses in his pule :Amine
the deeds without which they could not be touched.
His heirs take them in the ports:female, or receive
them from his testamentary executor. They can
enter into the partition of the moveable or personal
property only, and this partition. by the law of
France must be made according to the law of the
country wherein the deceased had his domicile—
the law of Euglaad, if the deceased was au English..
man.
'a Foreigners are Dow permitted to dispose by
will of their property situated is France, pr iu

case of intestacy [their property will go to their
right heirs.) Previous to this power the State nc-
ceeded, if the deceased had no heirs native sub-
jects. The State renounced this succession, and
was entitled to annex a condition to it. The State
deprived French heirs of the right that they had
had of excluding foreign heir., it was necessary to
give them some indemnity. This Condition and
this indemnity are expreswil in the ottond article.
" The French law has sin authority over property
situated out of the country, but it has complete
power over all property within it. It has ended-
soured to establish, as far as was possible, the
equality of partition, such as existed in France.
It is for this that the French heirs are indemnified
from the property in France, for whatever they
might lose of kite foreign property by the operation
of the lairs to which it may be subjected.

" For instance, an English's's') possesses in
England property of various kind•, amounting to
600.000 fr. He also pos•e.ses in France real pro-
perty to the amount of 300,000 fr. The whole of
his succession is 900,000 fr.

" Ile has one son aml one daughter. The
daughter marries in France, and thertby becomes
• Frenchwom

•• Conformably to the liberty given to him by
the Fngli•h law, he gives to his son his entire suc-
c►.ssimt, or I to his daughter only a small part,
in the way of the reserve which our laws make for
children. This daughter will lay claim in France
to so much of the real property as will be required
to complete this provision.
•• But suppose the father has no property in
France. but settles, will his heiress in France he
esiabled to secure these rentes for her legal provi-
sion ? No; because these reales do not constitute
a part of the property situated in France. from
which the law reserves the indemnity, and be-
can•e her father has acquired these reales, not
under the condition of the law of the 14th of July,
hut under the guarantee of previous laws, which
leave to foreigners the disposition and transmission
of retires according to the laws of their respective
eauntriri, and according to the laws of Great Bri-
tain, if the possessor he a British subject, in pur-
suance of the Treaty of Utrecht, and the declara-
tion of 1739—and finally, because by the common
law the succession of personal property is regu-
lated by the laws of domicile (or of the country
where the possessor had his political residence), and
never by the law of the place where the personal
property is situated."

IREL4ND.

....0.-
DUBLIN. JANUARY 7.
THE LATE COUNTESS TA I.BOT.

This day the remains of the lamented Countess
Talbot will he in state in the Castle Chapel. The
north door will be open to the public from ten to
tour o'clock.

It is stated that the procession to the water side
to-morrow, will move in the following order :

Dragoons.
HEARSE.
Carriages of the HooseitolJ.
The Lord Mayor.
Great Officers of State.
Peers ■nJ Peeresses.
Privy Counsellors.
Ana other Carriages in succession.

Sir John Stevenson has composed a funeral
Anthem on the occasion of the lamented death of
uar ■miNhle Vice-Queen. which will be performed
at St. Patrick's Cathedral next Sunday.