Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.

BRAZILIAN CONSULAR REGULATIONS.

The Emperor of Brazil has ordered the execution of the following regulations, defining the exemptions and functions of foreign consular agents in the empire, and the formalities to be observed in taking possession of, and in administering to, the property of deceased subjects of their respective nations, in case of reciprocity.

ART. 1. Consular agents-that is to say, foreign consuls and vice consuls in the em pire, having obtained the imperial exequatur for their nominations-shall freely exercise the functions of an administrative character proper to their charge, which, without detriment to the laws of the country, may have been imposed upon them by their governments.

They are free to favor and promote the lawful navigation and Commerce of their fellow-countrymen; to protect the same against illegal measures; to assist them in their just pretensions before the local authorities; to appeal, in case of justice being denied on the part of the latter, to the imperial government through the medium of the diplomatic agent of their nation, or directly, if there should not be any; to set forth, by said means, the measures that have been adopted which may affect or tend to injure the Commerce and navigation of their country; and, finally, to perform other administrative acts-such as to receive the declarations, protests, written affidavits, and other documents which may be presented to them by the captains of vessels belonging to their nation; to authenticate the same; to issue certificates; to draw up maritime and marriage contracts between their own countrymen; and other acts of this character, according to the regulations of instructions of their governments.

ART. 2. As soon as a foreigner, domiciled in Brazil, dies intestate, having no wife in the land, nor heirs recognized as such present, to whom would belong the right of taking possession, as head of the family, in order to take an inventory and portion out the estate, or even with a will, if the heirs should be foreigners and happen to be absent likewise, the judge of probate for deceased persons and absentees shall proceed, with the respective consular agent, to take possession of the estate, the custody of which to be intrusted to said agent; the above mentioned judge causing at first an ex-officio inventory to be taken, which proceeding must take place in the presence of the consular agent aforesaid.

This intervention on the part of consular agents shall not take place when any heir recognized as such happens to be a Brazilian citizen, even though he should be absent. ART. 3. The inventory being concluded, the effects belonging to the estate shall be intrusted to the administration and liquidation of the consular agent, who will not be at liberty to dispose of the same or the proceeds thereof, nor to deliver them to the legitimate heirs, until it is ascertained-preceding notices having been published in the newspapers immediately after taking possession-that no creditor to said estate has appeared within the period of one year, nor any judicial question been pending in the meanwhile in regard to it, nor the duties to which said estate was subject by the laws of the empire been left unpaid. In order to ascertain whether the payment of duties is required or not, it will be necessary for the consular agent to show, by satisfactory documents duly authenticated, what is the degree of kindred between the deceased and his heir or heirs.

ART. 4. At the expiration of the year mentioned in the foregoing articles, there being no judicial question pending in regard to the estate-the fiscal duties having been paid, or it being ascertained that the payment of such is not required-the consular agent shall be at liberty to dispose of said estate, and transmit the proceeds of the same to those who have a right to it, according to his instructions, being then considered by the tribunals of the country as the representative of the heir or heirs, to whom he will be alone responsible.

ART. 5. If there be evidence of debts, or questions pending affecting only a portion of the estate, the provision of the preceding article may, at the expiration of one year, and on the fulfillment of the requisitions of the 3d article, be carried out in regard to that portion which is unincumbered and free, a public deposit being previously made of a sum of money covering the amount of the debt or question pending, or a reservation made for the object embraced in said question.

ART. 6. If any foreigner domiciled in Brazil die under the circumstances mentioned in the 2d article of this regulation, in a place were there is no consular agent of his nation, the judge of probate for deceased persons and absentees shall proceed to take possession and make an inventory of the estate, in presence of two trustworthy witnesses belonging to the nation of the deceased, and, for want of such, in the presence of two merchants or property holders of respectability, either of whom becoming administrators for the settlement of the estate until some provision shall have been made in regard to the disposition of the clear and undisputed proceeds accruing from it.

ART. 7. In the case alluded to in the forgoing article, it shall be the duty of the judge of probate to transmit, within the period of fifteen days after having been notified of the death of any foreigner in his district under the circumstances mentioned in the 3d article, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, accompanied by a certificate of the death, an account of the age, residence, place of birth, profession, and what has been ascertained in regard to the property and relatives of said foreigner, in order that the minister aforesaid may communicate with the respective legation or consular agent iu regard to disposing of the unincumbered portion of the estate.

ART. 8. In the case alluded to in the 6th article, neither the consular agent nor the administrators shall have power to discharge any of the debts of the deceased without the authority of the judge of probate, who is not to order payment of the same without consulting the consular agent or the administrators.

Exception to be made for the expenses of the funeral, which shall at once be authorized by the aforesaid consul, if possible, or by the competent authorities of the district, with a regard to the capabilities of the estate.

ART. 9. When a deceased foreigner has been a partner in any mercantile firm, or is indebted to merchants for considerable sums of money, it will be necessary to proceed according to the provisions of the 309th and 310th articles of the commercial code. To the judge of probate for absentees, and to the respective consular agent, will alone belong the right of taking possession of the unincumbered portion still appertaining to the estate. The consular agent, however, may, in the terms of the article aforesaid, require whatever may fall to the benefit of the same.

ART. 10. In those cases when, according to the 6th article of these regulations, administrators to the unclaimed, estates of foreigners are appointed, they shall receive, if they require it, the per centage established by the laws of the empire for the curators of such estates, and the emoluments of the judge of probate shall be determined in the same way.

ART. 11. When a foreign consular agent dies, his estate shall be taken possession of in the same manner as it is customary with members of the diplomatic corps, unless the consular agent has been engaged in some kind of business in the country; because in this case it will be necessary to proceed according to the general rule.

ART. 12. When a foreign vessel is wrecked on the coast of Brazil, and at a place where there is consular agent of the respective nation, the latter may take whatever measures he shall deem proper for the safety of such vessel, her cargo, and appurtenances, without interfering with the local authorities in their right to succor those who have been shipwrecked; to preserve order; to secure the interests of the owners of the vessel and cargo, as well as those of the public treasury; to authenticate the inventory; to identify the effects which were on board the wreck, and have the same deposited in the custom-house; and to intervene in all such circumstances that may attach suspicion to the proceedings of the captain, pilot, or any other person who may have had charge of the wrecked vessel

ART. 13. Foreign consular agents shall exercise the authority of judges and arbiters in all questions relating to the wages of the crews, and in all civil questions which may arise between their own countrymen composing said crews; between the captains of different vessels belonging to their nation; and in suits of a commercial character between their fellow-citizens, when the latter do not prefer to have recourse to the authorities of the empire, and there are not found involved in such questions the rights of any inhabitants of the empire belonging to a different nation.

ART. 14. It is incumbent upon consular agents to take cognizance, according to their regulations, of such crimes as are committed on board vessels belonging to their nation, by members of the crew against one another during the voyage, provided that neither the offender nor the injured party are subjects of the empire; because in such case, although they may constitute part of said crew, the local authorities will have the exclusive right of taking cognizance of such crime.

ART. 15. When foreign merchant vessels find themselves in any of the ports of Brazil, the criminal and competent jurisdiction of their respective consular agents shall

not extend to criminal offences of a serious character, or which may in any way disturb public tranquillity, or affect in a particular manner any of the inha'itants of the country.

ART. 16. Foreign consular agents shall be assisted, on making a requisition to that effect, by the competent local authorities, not only when they are in need of their intervention and support in the exercise of their functions on board said vessels, but also when they require the imprisonment and surrender of sailors and soldiers who may have deserted from them or from ships-of-war, said consular agents being responsible for the expenses which such individuals may incur in prison.

ART. 17. In civil transactions, and such offences as they may individually commit, foreign consular agents are subject to the authorities of the empire, whether the matter at issue affect them directly, or whether it relate to a third party, and their intervention as private individuals be rendered necessary-said consular agents being treated, however, with all the attentions which are customary in court, when the summons and declarations are addressed to persons holding public offices of an elevated character, and being accommodated, when not indicted for a criminal offence, with a seat by the side of the person in authority, or president of the court before who.n they have to appear, except when they happen to be merchants, or have been engaged in any kind of business in the country, and the question turns upon matters affecting their trade or business; because in this case the same treatment must be observed towards them as in the case of any other private individual.

ART. 18. It is only with regard to such offences which they may have committed as merchants, or which may be of such serious character as not to admit of bail, that consular agents can be imprisoned without the authorization of the imperial government; which, on being apprized that, either on account of the circumstances attending the commission of the offence, or for some powerful reason, said agent ought not to be de livered to the government of which he is the subject for trial, or that it is not sufficient to expel him from the empire, or to deprive him of his exequatur, shall cause him to be tried by the competent tribunal.

ART. 19. The archives, documents, and official correspondence of foreign consuls and vice consuls, are exempted from search, and of all and any examination and investigation whatever on the part of the authorities of the empire. In case of a consular agent being imprisoned or expelled without any one being substituted in his place, the aforesaid archives, documents, and correspondence must be carefully preserved, being stamped and sealed up by said agent, and by the first judiciary authority within the jurisdiction of the district.

ART. 20. Brazilians exercising the functions of foreign consuls and vice consuls in Brazil, shall not on that account be exonerated from entire subjection to the ordinary jurisdiction of the country, and will be tried and punished by their own tribunals whenever they commit any crime, no matter of what character. In the same manner such functions shall not exempt them from performing public duties, and from serving in the national guard, when for some special reason, they have not obtained an exemption or dispensation from the same.

ART. 21. The houses in which foreign consular agents reside shall not enjoy the rights of asylum, notwithstanding the summons, imprisonments, and the execution of any judicial mandate of the country, due attention having been paid to the guaranties and formalities established by law.

ART. 22. A decree of the government will designate the points in the empire where consular agents are or may be received.

ART. 23. The provisions of the 1st, 13th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 19th articles of these regulations shall not be of any avail to the consular agents and subjects of those nations among whom the consular agents and subjects of Brazil do not find any reciproc ity-the imperial government declaring which of those provisions shall not, for the reasons specified above, be executed.

ART. 24. The 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 11th articles shall not go in force in regard to the consular agents and subjects of a nation after that, in virtue of agreement, a reciprocrity shall have been established by means of an exchange of notes, said articles being consequently ordered to be executed in regard to said nation by a decree of the government.

PALACE OF RIO DE JANEIRO, November 8, 1851.

PAULINO JOSE SOARES DE SOUSA.

SPANISH NAVIGATION AND PORT DUES.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March, 25, 1852. The subjoined decree of the Government of Spain, communicated to this department by the Department of State, is published for the information of the ship-masters of the United States and others interested :

LEGATION OF UNITED STATES AT MADRID. FIRST DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF STATE. ROYAL DECREE.

Conforming myself to what has been proposed by my minister of finance in agreement with the counsel of ministers, I assent to and decree the following:

:

ART. 1. In the peninsular and island adjacent, there shall be put upon the same footing of Spanish vessels-for the exaction of navigation and port duties; or, that is to say, for those of light-houses, anchorage, and of loading and unloading cargo, estab lished in the law of the eleventh of April, 1849, and in my royal decree of the sixteenth of December last-the vessels of all nations, who may concede a like benefit in their respective territories to the vessels of the Spanish marine.

ART. 2. The government will give account of this order to the cortes. Given at the palace, on the third of January, one thousand eight hundred and fiftytwo. It is signed by the royal hand. The minister of finance.

JUAN BRAVO MURILLO.

BREADSTUFFS IMPORTED INTO THE ZOLL-VEREIN FREE OF DUTY.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, March, 23, 1852. Information has been received from Charles Graebe, Esq., United States Consul for Hesse Cassel, Hesse Darmstadt, and Hanover, that in consequence of the general deficiency of the last crop of grain, and the high price occasioned thereby, the States composing the Zoll-Verein of Germany have passed a decree, that from the first of the present month to the first of September next, grains, legumus, and flour, can be imported into the Zoll-Verein free of duty.

The import duty on grain previous to the said decree was about seven cents a bushel, and that on flour amounted to a prohibition, being two dollars and fifty cents per barrel.

REDUCTION OF POSTAGE TO BUENOS AYRES.

Information has been received at the United States Post-Office Department in Washington, of the reduction of the British packet rate of postage on letters conveyed between England and Buenos Ayres, or any other part of the Argentine Republic, from 2s. 7d. to 1s., for a letter not exceeding the weight of half an ounce; the rate (which must be prepaid) hereafter to be charged on a letter of half an ounce or under, from any office in the United States to any part of the Argentine Republic, is fortyfive cents, instead of eighty-three cents as heretofore. In is to be borne in mind that this reduction applies only to letters to and from the Argentine Republic, which is subdivided into the following departments, viz.:-Buenos Ayres, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Missiones, Cordova, Santiago, Tucumen, Salta, Čatamarca, La Rioga, San Juan, San Luis, and Mendoza. To Brazil and Montevideo the postage remains unchanged.

NEW SPANISH DUTY ON FOREIGN VESSELS.

ALICANT, December 31.

By a decree of the Spanish Government, dated 17th inst., all foreign vessels entering Spanish ports on or after the 1st of February next, will be subject to a new duty of two reals, (about 5d. sterling,) per ton, in lieu of the present mole or harbor dues, and in addition to one quarter of a real on each quintal of merchandise landed or shipped in Spain or the adjacent Islands.

PASSPORT REGULATIONS OF AUSTRIA.

Information has been received at the Department of State at Washington, that new instructions have lately been given by the Austrian government to all their police officers and gens d'armes not to permit any foreigner to enter their dominions unless his passport bears the vise of an Austrian legation or consulate.

This new regulation extends to every place at which an Austrian garrison exists, and will, as is stated, be strictly enforced against English and American travelers. It is, therefore, advisable that those of our countrymen who intend to travel in the interior of Germany or into Italy, should have their passports vised at the Austrian legation at Washington, or at Paris or London.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

LIGHT-HOUSES AT PORT MAHON AND DRAGONERA.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, April 7, 1852.

FREEMAN HUNT, Esq., Conductor Merchants' Magazine, New York :

SIR-I transmit to you, inclosed, a translation of two notices, relative to the erection of Light-Houses, recently established by the Spanish Government, at the Port of Mahon, and on the Island of Dragonera, for such use as you may choose to make of them. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,

DANIEL WEBSTER.

LIGHT HOUSE OF THE ISLAND OF DRAGONERA.

GENERAL DIRECTION OF PUBLIC WORKS,

From the 20th March, 1852, a light will be kindled every night, from the setting to the rising of the sun, in a new light-house established upon the central summit of the Island of Dragonera, called Single de Ginavera, on the same site where there stood an old watch-tower.

Its situation, according to the meridian of Cadiz, is of 8° 37′ 20′′ E. longitude, and 39° 37' 50" of N. latitude. Its apparatus is a catadioptrical, large model, with scintillations at intervals of two minutes. The light is raised 360 m. 19 above the level of the sea; it produces a tangent of 18 miles; but it may be descried from a greater or lesser distance, according to the state of the atmosphere and the elevated position of the observer.

LIGHT-HOUSE OF THE PORT OF MAHON.

From the 20th March, 1852, a light will be kindled every night, from the setting to the rising of the sun, in a new light-house established at the extremity of San Felipe and S. E. angle of the entrance of Port Mahon, upon the remains of an ancient castle of that name. Its distance in a level line from the waters of the sea is of 126 m., and the rocky banks, which produce visible breakers, extend to a distance of nearly 200 feet. The situation of the light-house, in regard to the meridian of Cadiz, is of 10° 40′ 8′′ of E. longitude, and of 39° 50′ 28′′ N. latitude.

Its apparatus is catadioptrical of the sixth order of fixed and luminous light, 270° horizontally.

The light is raised 22 m. 66 above the level of the sea; it produces a tangent of 6 miles, but may be descried at a greater or lesser distance, according to the state of the atmosphere and the position of the observer.

PORT REGULATIONS OF SHANGHAE.

The following regulations went into operation on the 24th September, 1851:Buoys will be placed at the northern and southern extremities of the anchorage, in order to establish the line of boundary, and it will be obligatory upon all vessels to anchor within the defined limits.

The harbor-master shall berth all foreign vessels arriving at the anchorage at Shanghae, superintend their mooring and unmooring, and take them safely out when ready to depart, for which he receives ten dollars on all vessels above 150 tons.

No vessel under any foreign flag, having gunpowder or other combustibles on board, shall be permitted to anchor among the foreign vessels or in their near vicinity.

No sailor from a foreign vessel can be discharged or left behind at this port without the express sanction of the consul reporting the vessel.

« AnteriorContinuar »