Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-07-02
Extraterritoriality Holds Key
To American Rights in China
United States Privileges for Its Citizens Maintained
by System Which Faces Overthrow
by Japanese
by Japanese
By Charles Sumner L0bingier,
Judge United States Court for China, 1914-1924.

SUSI AOUtUSIeIs
TT for China 1914-19.4.
sentatives in 1906. 1t soon passed that
body, and, with some notifications, was
accepted by the Senate and on June 80
of that year became the organic act of
the present court. 1t took over most Of
the jurisdiction of the consular courts,
which continued to function mainly in
the settlement of small estates. Appeals
therefrom were now to the United States
Court. which also superseded the Min
lister as the supervising authority. From
the court itself litigant may take his
case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Ap-
peals at San Francisco.
THE laws of the United States" were
prescribed by Congress in 1848 as the
basis of American Jurisprudence in China.
But Westinghouse, and especially law
yers, may be surprised to know that this
led to the application of the District of
Columbia code in many situations which
are presented to the court 1t came
about in this way: The Supreme Court
and others had held that the phrase last
quoted above included not only the gen.
eral acts of Congress but also those
passed for limited areas like the District
of Columbia. In the absence of a gen.
eral code exclusively for China, the court
fell back on the District of Columbia
code to meet the many situations not
otherwise provided for. Hence American
lawyers practicing in China (of whom
there were about 80 when the writer was
presiding there) were expected to be
familiar with the provisions of the Dis
'trict CODE
No Coercion in Rights.
Our extraterritorial rights in China
were acquired with the free and full
consent of the Chinese government No
force, fraud or intimidation was used in
obtaining them. The Chinese authori-
ties in fact, seem to have preferred a
system which relieved them of annoy
ance and responsibility for the disputes
and misdeeds of foreigners. But mean
while legal concepts in the world outside
of China were changing rapidly, and
when, in recent years, Chinese began to
travel and study in Western lands, they
found there few traces left of extrater-
ritoriality.
They came to look upon that system
as mark of backwardness and in
feriority and a movement began early
in the present century for abolition Of
the unequal treaties In this they
have had many Western sympathizers,
but with the renewal of an aggressive
policy on the part of Japan, marked
by the seizure of Manchuria in 1881, the
invasion of Shanghai year later and
eliminating in the present "undeclared
war; the Chinese leaders have come to
see that at this time they would have
nothing to gain and everything to lose
by effecting such abolition. For the en-
joyment of these extraterritorial priv
ileges gives the democratic nations a
real stake in China and causes them to
resent the unprovoked and unjustifiable
assaults upon that country.
Would Promote Japan.
Moreover, the abolition of extraterri-
toriality now would not mean its retro
cession to China, but its acquisition by
Japan. whose hand would thereby be
strengthened in all those portions Of
China which the former now occupies.
Thus Manchuria now renamed Man.
chukuo) has become virtually Japa-
nese province, although extraterritorial-
ity has never been formally surrendered
there Other foreign powers receive little
consideration in the province" unless
they recognize the Japanese annexation.
The Chinese officials there, including the
so-called Emperor" are mere puppets
and the japanese laugh at any attempts
to deal with them or to take them
seriously
Such is the regime which Japan is
now seeking to impose in Tientsin,
Swatow and other Chinese ports. Once
they have achieved their objective in
those areas they will undoubtedly make
the same demands in Shanghai, where
foreign interests are most extensive and
important. And all this means the end
of serious Western activity in China
Japanese courts will supplant not only
those of China but also those of Great
Britain and the United States jap
anese police will assume the power to
arrest Americans and even to search
American homes at will. Japanese
judges will exercise full jurisdiction over
American citizens constituting their con-
facts and dealings with those of other
nationality and passing sentence upon
those accused of any offense. Our trade
in China will be at the mercy of Jap
anese authorities, who may impose all
sorts of restrictions, including oppressive
taxation, from which, thanks to extra
territoriality, Americans are now exempt.
Japanese officials will frame the tariffs,
which will be certain to favor Japanese
goods and discriminate against those of
other countries, including our own. We
need expect no commerce with China
except such as Japan sees fit to permit.
Such are the pecuniary interests at stake
in the pending strife at Tientsin. To-
day 1t is the British who are menaced;
tomorrow it may be the Americans All
Western nations trading with China are
potentially affected.
Proud Of Educational Role.
But Americas enterprises in China
have not been solely commercial. Those
which have been the greatest sources Of
pride to Americans who live there have