British Order in Council, for the regulation of British Consular Jurisdiction in Morocco. Osborne, February 4, 1875
At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 4th day of February,
1875.
PRESENT: THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL
WHEREAS by the General Treaty made between Her Majesty the Queen and the Sultan of
Morocco, on the 9th day of December, 1856, it is agreed (among other things) to the effect
following (Article XIV), that in all criminal cases, differences, disputes, or other
causes of litigation arising between British subjects and the subjects or citizens of
other foreign nations, no Moorish authority shall have a right to interfere unless a
Moorish subject has received thereby injury to his person or property, in which case the
Moorish authority or one of his officers, shall have a right to be present at the tribunal
of the Consul; such cases shall be decided solely in the tribunals of the foreign Consuls,
without the interference of the Moorish Government, according to the established usages
which had theretofore been acted upon, or might thereafter be arranged between such
Consuls:
And whereas it seems to Her Majesty the Queen in Council expedient to make provision
for the effectual exercise of the jurisdiction in the said Article mentioned:
Now, therefore, Her Majesty the Queen in Council, by virtue and in exercise of the
powers in this behalf by the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts, or otherwise, in Her Majesty
vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is
hereby ordered, as follows:
I. In either of the following cases (that is to say) where,
(1.) A subject or citizen of or person enjoying the protection of a State in amity with
Her Majesty the Queen other than Morocco (in this Order referred to as a foreigner)
desires to institute or take before Her Majesty's Consul a suit or proceeding of a civil
nature against a British subject, or he has, before the passing of this Order, instituted
or taken such a suit or proceeding, and the same is then pending; or,
(2.) A British subject desires to institute or take before Her Majesty's Consul a suit
or proceeding of a civil nature against a foreigner, or he has, before the passing of this
Order, instituted or taken such a suit or proceeding, and the same is then pending:
The Consul shall entertain the suit or proceeding, and shall hear and determine it.
Provided, that the Consul shall not proceed therein unless and until the foreigner
obtains and files in the Court of the Consul, the consent, in writing, of the competent
authority of the foreigner's own nation to his submitting, and does submit, to the
jurisdiction of the Consul, and, if required by the Consul, give security, to the
satisfaction of the Consul, by deposit or otherwise, to pay fees, damages, costs, and
expenses, and abide by and perform the decision of the Consul subject to the right of
appeal.
II. Article X (relating to appeals) of the Order in Council regulating Consular
Jurisdiction in Morocco, dated the 27th day of August, 1857, and all other provisions of
that Order relating to civil suits and proceedings, shall extend and apply to suits and
proceedings within this Order, and this Order hall (as far as may be) be read as one with
the Order of the 27th day of August, 1857.
III. Nothing in this Order shall prejudicially affect the lawfulness or validity of any
Order or thing made or done by any of Her Majesty's Consuls before the passing of this
Order; and every such Order and thing shall be as lawful and valid, and may be enforced
and acted on, in like manner in all respects, as if this Order had not been made.
And the Right Honourable the Earl of Derby, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries
of State, is to give the necessary directions herein given.
ARTHUR HELPS.
Text from Hertslet's Commercial Treaties Vol XIV, 413-4.
