ITALY AND SPAIN.

Consular Convention between Italy and Spain. Signed at St. Ildefonso, July 21, 1867.

(Translation.)

[Ratifications exchanged at Madrid, November 2, 1867.]

HIS Majesty the King of Italy and Her Majesty the Queen of the Spains, convinced of the expediency of fixing clearly the civil rights of their subjects, as well as the reciprocal rights, privileges, and immunities of the respective Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, and of determining their functions and the obligations to be imposed on them respectively in the two countries, have resolved to conclude a Consular Convention, and for that purpose have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

His Majesty the King of Italy, the Marquis Camillo di Bella-Caracciolo, Grand Officer of the Royal Order of St. Lazarus and St. Maurice, Grand Cordon of the Order of Christ of Portugal, decorated with the Ottoman Order of the Medjidié, first class, &c., his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Her Majesty the Queen of the Spains;

And Her Majesty the Queen of the Spains, Don Lorenzo Arrazola, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III. and of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain, of the Order of the Conception of Villaviciosa of Portugal, of that of St. Gregory the Great of the Pontifical States, Senator of the Kingdom, formerly President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Grace and Justice, Councillor of the Crown, Deputy to the Cortes and President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Member of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and of Prince Alfonso's Academy of Archæology, Principal Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs, &c. ;

Who, after the presentation of their full powers found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles :

ARTICLE I.

The subjects of each of the two Contracting Parties shall reciprocally enjoy in the States and possessions of the other equally with the natives the same liberty and protection to enter with their ships and their cargoes into all the places, ports, and rivers which are or shall be open to foreign commerce; to travel, reside, and trade, both by wholesale and retail, to hire or occupy houses, warehouses, and shops, to effect transports of goods and money by sea and by land, to receive, to consign both from the interior and from abroad, paying always only those dues imposed on the natives by law, to sell and buy direct or through persons of their own choice, and to fix the prices of the goods, effects, merchandise, and articles whatever they may be, whether imported or of home production, whether they sell them for the interior or export them, conforming in every case to the laws and to the regulations in force in the country; to attend to their affairs themselves, present their own declarations at the Custom-houses or have themselves represented by any person they may think fitting, and for the remuneration only expressly agreed upon between them; and finally to assert and defend their rights before the Judges and tribunals of the country, employing for that purpose such Advocates, Attorneys, or Agents as they themselves may select.

ARTICLE II.

Italians in Spain and Spaniards in Italy shall reciprocally have the right of acquiring and possessing property of every kind and nature, whether moveable or immoveable, and of freely disposing of it by purchase, sale, donation, exchange, marriage, will, intestate, inheritance, or any other manner, just the same as the natives, on the same conditions, and not paying other dues, contributions, or taxes, besides those which are imposed by the laws on the citizens of the country.

ARTICLE III.

The subjects of each of the Contracting States shall enjoy in the territory of the other, both in regard to their persons and in regard to their property, the same civil rights and privileges as are and shall be granted to the natives, but conforming always to the laws of

Appendix No. 33.
Italy and Spain.

Appendix No. 38. the country, and they cannot in any case be subjected to charges, contributions, or imposts, of whatever nature they may be, different from or higher than those which are borne by Italy and Spain. the natives.

ARTICLE IV.

Italians in Spain and Spaniards in Italy shall be exempt from all personal service, whether in the army or navy, the national guard or militia; they shall also be free from every judicial administrative and communal office, and from all war contributions, requisitions, anticipations, or military services of any kind soever. Exception shall, however, be made for the burdens attached to the possession or to the occupation of landed property for the military claims and requisitions, to which all the subjects of the country may be called upon to contribute as owners or as occupiers of land.

Italians in Spain and Spaniards in Italy cannot be subjected to any sequestration, nor can their vessels, cargoes, goods and effects be detained for any public use whatever, without a previous agreement or indemnity, settled upon just and equitable grounds between the interested parties.

ARTICLE V.

The High Contracting Parties declare that they reciprocally recognize in all jointstock or other commercial, industrial, or financial Companies, constituted or authorized on the basis of the special laws of one of the two countries, the power of exercising all their rights, and of appearing before the tribunals to assert or defend their interests in all the territories of the States and possessions of the other, without any other condition than that of conforming to the laws in force in the aforesaid States and possessions. It is understood that this provision applies as well to the Companies and Societies constituted and authorized previously to the stipulation of the present Convention, as to those which shall be so hereafter.

ARTICLE VI.

Each of the High Contracting Parties shall have the right of establishing ConsulsGeneral, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in the ports, cities, and places of the other's territory, respectively reserving to themselves the power of excepting such localities as they may consider expedient.

This reservation cannot, however, be applied to one of the High Contracting Parties, unless it be likewise applied to all other Powers.

ARTICLE VII.

In order that the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, may be admitted and recognized as such, they must present their patent of appointment, and on the presentation thereof, the exequatur shall be issued to them free of expense, and with the previous formalities established in each of the two countries.

On presentation of the exequatur, the superior authority of the province, district, or Department in which the said Agents are to reside, shall issue the requisite orders to the other authorities thereof, so that in all points included therein they may support them in the exercise of their official functions, and respect and cause to be respected the exemptions, prerogatives, immunities and privileges which they are entitled to by the present Convention.

ARTICLE VIII.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, subjects of the State which appoints them, shall enjoy exemption from military billeting, and from every public charge or service, whether municipal or of any other kind. They shall likewise be exempt from direct taxes, whether personal, mobiliary, or sumptuary, whether imposed by the State, by the provinces, or by the communes; but if the said Agents should be traders, or should carry on any business, or should possess landed property, they shall be considered in the same position as the other subjects of the State to which they belong, for everything relating to general charges and taxes.

ARTICLE IX.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, subjects of the State which appoints them, and who are not engaged in trade nor in any kind of business

shall not be obliged to appear as witnesses before the tribunals of the country in which Appendix No. 33. they reside. But they must not refuse their declarations if the judicial authority should proceed to their house to receive them by word of mouth, or should request them in Italy and Spain. writing, or should delegate a public notary in Spain, or a functionary duly authorized in Italy, to receive them. In any of these cases they shall be bound to comply with the desires of the authority within the term, on the day and at the hour appointed by the same, without interposing unnecessary delays.

ARTICLE X.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, being subjects of the State which appoints them, shall enjoy personal immunity, and cannot be arrested or imprisoned except for serious offences; but if the said Agents should be traders, they shall be liable to personal arrest for commercial causes only, and never for civil

causes.

ARTICLE XI.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may place over the outer door of the Consulate or Vice-Consulate the arms of their nation, with this inscription :-Consulate or Vice-Consulate of

They may also hoist the flag of their country on the Consular house, on days of public solemnity, religious or national, as well as on other customary occasions; but the exercise of this double privilege shall cease when the said Agents reside in the capital where the Embassy or Legation of their country is.

They shall likewise have the right of displaying the respective national flag in the boat which carries them in the port to discharge the functions within their competency.

ARTICLE XII.

The Consular archives shall be at all times inviolable, and the local authorities cannot under any pretext examine or sequestrate the papers belonging thereto, which must always be kept entirely separate from the books and papers relating to the trade or profession which the respective Consuls or Vice-Consuls may be engaged in.

ARTICLE XIII.

In cases of impediment, absence, or death of the Consuls-General, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls, the Consular attachés, Chancellors, and Secretaries, who shall have been already presented as such to the respective authorites, shall be admitted of full right, according to their rank, to take charge of the Consular functions ad interim, and the local authorities must not put any impediment in their way; on the contrary, the said authorities must afford them their assistance and protection, and maintain for them, during the interim, all the exemptions, prerogatives, immunities, and privileges stipulated in the present Convention in favour of the respective Consular Agents.

ARTICLE XIV.

The Consuls-General and Consuls can appoint Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in the cities, ports, and places of their respective districts, always subject to the approbation of the territorial Government.

These agents may be selected without distinction from among the citizens of the two countries, as well as from foreigners, and they shall be furnished with a commission, issued by the Consul who has appointed them, and under whose orders they are to exercise their functions. They shall enjoy the same privileges and immunities as are stipulated in this Convention, subject to the exceptions contained in Articles VIII and X.

ARTICLE XV.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may address the authorities of their district to remonstrate against any infraction of the Treaties or Conventions existing between the two countries, and against any abuse of which their fellow-countrymen may complain. If their remonstrances should not be attended to by the authorities of the district, or if the decision come to by them should not appear satisfactory to the Consuls, they may also apply, if there be no Diplomatic Agent of their country, to the Government of the State in which they reside.

Appendix No. 33.
Italy and Spain.

ARTICLE XVI.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents of the two countries, or their Chancellors, shall have the right of receiving in their offices, at the house of the parties, and on board the ships of their nation, the declarations which the captains, crews, and passengers, traders, and any other subject of their country may have to make.

They shall likewise have the power of receiving, as notaries, the testamentary dispositions of their countrymen, as well as all other notarial acts, even when the purpose of such acts is to constitute mortgages on property situated in the country to which the Consul or Consular Agent belongs. In such case the special regulations in force in each of the two countries shall be applied.

The said agents shall, moreover, have the right of receiving in their respective offices all contracts which involve personal obligations between one or more of their fellowcountrymen, and other persons of the country in which they reside, as well as all those which, although exclusively of interest to the natives of the country in which they are concluded, refer to property situated, or to matters that are to be attended to in any part of the nation to which the Consular Agent belongs before whom such acts are drawn up. The certificates or attestations of such acts, duly legalized by the said Agents, and marked with the official stamp of the Consulate, Vice-Consulate, or Consular Agency, shall be valid in Courts of Justice and elsewhere, both in the States of Spain and in those of Italy, and they shall have the same force and value as if they had been signed by notaries or other public officers of either country, provided that such acts be drawn up in the form required by the laws of the State to which the Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents belong, and be then stamped, registered, and subjected to all the other formalities which are customary in the country in which the act is to be executed.

If there be any doubt as to the authenticity of a public document registered in the office of one of the respective Consulates, the comparison thereof with the original must not be refused after demand by the party interested, who may be present at the operation, if he considers it expedient.

The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may translate and legalize all kinds of documents emanating from the authorities or functionaries of their country. These translations and legalizations shall have the same force and value in the country where they reside as if they had been made by sworn interpreters of the territory.

ARTICLE XVII.

In case of the decease of any subject of one of the Contracting Parties in the territory of the other, the local authorities must give immediate notice to the Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent in whose district the decease has occurred; and they, on their part, must give the same notice to the local authorities when the decease comes to their knowledge first.

If an Italian in Spain, or a Spaniard in Italy, should die without making a will, or without appointing a testamentary executor, or if the legitimate or testamentary heirs should be minors, incapable, or absent, or if the testamentary executors appointed should be incapable, or should not be found in the place where the property has been left, the Consuls-General, Consuls, and Consular Agents of the deceased's nation shall have the right of proceeding successively to the following operations:

1. To affix seals, ex officio, or at the request of the parties interested, on all the moveable property and papers of the deceased, giving notice of this operation to the competent local authority who may be present, and affix his own seals also.

These seals, as well as those of the Consular Agent, must not be removed without the consent of the local authority. Nevertheless, if after a notice addressed by the Consul or Vice-Consul to the local authority, inviting him to be present at the removal of the double seals, he should not appear within the period of eight-and-forty hours from the time of receiving the notice, the said Agent may proceed to the operation by himself.

2. To draw up the inventory of all the goods and effects of the deceased, in presence of the local authority, if he has attended in consequence of the aforesaid notification.

The local authority shall put his signature to the Reports drawn up in his presence; and he shall have no right to demand fees of any kind for his official intervention in the said matters.

3. To provide for the sale by public auction of all the moveable effects of the estate which may deteriorate, and of those which it may be difficult to preserve, as well as of the follections or effects for the disposal of which there may be favourable opportunities.