Page images
PDF
EPUB

SWITZERLAND."

(SWISS CONFEDERATION.)

1847.

CONVENTION AS TO PROPERTY RIGHTS.

Concluded May 18, 1847; ratification advised by the Senate April 26, 1848; ratified by the President April 29, 1848; ratifications exchanged May 3, 1848; proclaimed May 4, 1848. (Treaties and Conventions,

This convention of three articles is superseded by the Convention of 1850, which is printed below.

1850.

CONVENTION OF FRIENDSHIP, COMMERCE, AND EXTRADITION. Concluded November 25, 1850; ratification advised by the Senate with amendments March 7, 1851; ratified by the President March 12, 1851; •atification again advised by the Senate with amendment May 29, 1854; finally ratified by the President November 6, 1854; ratifications exchanged November 8, 1855; proclaimed November 9, 1855. (Treaties and Conventions, 1889, p. 1072.)

NOTE.-Notice given on March 23, 1899, of intention of United States to arrest the operation of Articles VIII to XII, inclusive.

Articles XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, and XVII terminated by treaty concluded May 14, 1900 (p. 774).

[blocks in formation]

The United States of America and the Swiss Confederation equally animated by the desire to preserve and to draw more closely the bonds of friendship which so happily exist between the two Republics, as well as to augment, by all the means at their disposal, the commercial intercourse of their respective citizens, have mutually resolved to conclude a General Convention of Friendship, Reciprocal Establishments, Commerce, and for the surrender of fugitive Criminals.

For this purpose, they have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:

The President of the United States, A. Dudley Mann, Special Agent of the United States on a mission to the Swiss Confederation, and

The Swiss Federal Council, Henry Druey, President of the Swiss Confederation, Director of the Political Department, and Frederick Frey-Hérosée, Member of the Federal Council, Director of the Department of Commerce and of Tolls, who, after a communication of their respective full powers, have agreed to the following articles.

ARTICLE I.

The citizens of the United States of America and the citizens of Switzerland shall be admitted and treated upon a footing of reciprocal equality in the two countries, where such admission and treatment shall not conflict with the Constitutional or legal provisions, as well Federal as State and Cantonal of the contracting parties. The citizens of the United States and the citizens of Switzerland, as well as the members of their families, subject to the Constitutional and legal provisions aforesaid, and yielding obedience to the laws, regulations and usages of the country wherein they reside, shall be at liberty to come, go, sojourn temporarily, domiciliate or establish themselves permanently, the former in the Cantons of the Swiss Confederation, the Swiss in the States of the American Union, to acquire, possess and alienate therein property (as is explained in Article V); to manage their affairs, to exercise their profession, their industry, and their commerce, to have establishments, to possess warehouses, to consign their products and their merchandise, and to sell them by wholesale or retail, either by themselves, or by such brokers or other agents as they may think proper; they shall have free access to the Tribunals and shall be at liberty to prosecute and defend their rights before courts of Justice, in the same manner as native citizens, either by themselves, or by such advocates, attorneys or other agents as they may think proper to select. No pecuniary or other more burdensome condition shall be imposed upon their residence or establishment, or upon the enjoyment of the abovementioned rights than shall be imposed upon citizens of the country where they reside, nor any condition whatever to which the latter shall not be subject.

The foregoing privileges however shall not extend to the exercise of political rights nor to a participation in the property of communities, corporations or institutions of which the citizens of one party, established in the other, shall not have become members or co-proprietors.

ARTICLE II

The citizens of one of the two countries, residing or established in the other, shall be free from personal military service, but they shall be liable to the pecuniary or material contributions, which may be required, by way of compensation, from citizens of the country where they reside, who are exempt from the said service.

S. Doc. 318, 58-2-49

No higher impost, under whatever name, shall be exacted from the citizens of one of the two countries, residing or established in the other, than shall be levied upon citizens of the country in which they reside, nor any contribution whatsoever, to which the latter shall not be liable.

In case of war or of expropriation for purposes of public utility, the citizens of one of the two countries, residing or established in the other shall be placed upon an equal footing with the citizens of the country in which they reside, with respect to indemnities for damages they may have sustained.

ARTICLE III.

The citizens of one of the two Republics, residing or established in the other, who shall desire to return to their country, or who shall be sent thither by a judicial decision, by an act of police, or in conformity with the laws and regulations on morals and mendicity, shall be received at all times and under all circumstances, they, their wives, and their legitimate issue, in the country to which they belong, and in which they shall have preserved their rights, in conformity with the laws thereof.

ARTICLE IV.

In order to establish their character as citizens of the United States of America or as citizens of Switzerland, persons belonging to the two contracting countries shall be bearers of pass-ports, or of other papers in due form, certifying their nationality as well as that of the members of their family, furnished or authenticated by a diplomatic or consular Agent of their nation, residing in the one of the two countries which they wish to inhabit.

ARTICLE V

The citizens of each one of the contracting parties shall have power to dispose of their personal property, within the jurisdiction of the other, by sale, testament, donation or in any other manner; and their heirs, whether by testament or ab intestato, or their successors, being citizens of the other party, shall succeed to the said property or inherit it, and they may take possession thereof, either by themselves or by others acting for them; they may dispose of the same as they may think proper, paying no other charges than those to which the inhabitants of the country wherein the said property is situated shall be liable to pay in a similar case. In the absence of such heir, heirs, or other successors, the same care shall be taken by the authorities for the preservation of the property, that would be taken for the preservation of the property of a native of the same country, until the lawful proprietor shall have had time to take measures for possessing himself of the same.

The foregoing provisions shall be applicable to real estate situated within the States of the American Union, or within the Cantons of the Swiss Confederation, in which foreigners shall be entitled to hold or inherit real estate.

But in case real estate, situated within the territories of one of the contracting parties, should fall to a citizen of the other party, who, on account of his being an alien, could not be permitted to hold such property in the State or in the Canton in which it may be situated,

there shall be accorded to the said heir or other successor such term as the laws of State or Canton will permit to sell such property; he shall be at liberty at all times to withdraw and export the proceeds thereof without difficulty and without paying to the Government any other charges than those which in a similar case would be paid by an inhabitant of the country in which the real estate may be situated.

ARTICLE VI.

Any controversy that may arise among the claimants to the same succession, as to whom the property shall belong, shall be decided according to the laws and by the Judges of the country in which the property is situated.

ARTICLE VII.

The contracting parties give to each other the privilege of having, each, in the large cities and important commercial places of their respective States, Consuls and Vice-Consuls of their own appointment, who shall enjoy the same privileges and powers in the discharge of their duties, as those of the most favored nations. But before any Consul [or Vice-Consula] shall act as such, he shall, in the ordinary form, be approved of by the Government to which he is commissioned. In their private and business transactions, Consuls and Vice-Consuls shall be submitted to the same laws and usages as private individuals, citizens of the place in which they reside.

It is hereby understood that in case of offence against the laws, by a Consul or a Vice-Consul, the Government to which he is commissioned, may, according to circumstances, withdraw his exequatur, send him away from the country, or have him punished in conformity with the laws, assigning to the other government its reasons for so doing.

The archives and papers belonging to the consulates shall be respected inviolably, and under no pretext whatever shall any magistrate, or other functionary visit, seize, or in any way interfere with them.

[Articles VIII, IX, X, XI and XII terminated on notice given by United States.]

[Articles XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, and XVII terminated by treaty of May 14, 1900.]

ARTICLE XVIII.

The present Convention is concluded for the period of ten years, counting from the day of the exchange of the ratification; and if one year before the expiration of that period, neither of the contracting parties shall have announced, by an official notification, its intention, to the other, to arrest the operations of said Convention, it shall continue binding for twelve months longer, and so on, from year to year, until the expiration of the twelve months which will follow a similar declaration, whatever the time at which it may take place.

ARTICLE XIX.

This Convention shall be submitted, on both sides, to the approval and ratification of the respective competent authorities of each of the

The words “or Vice-Consul" by a clerical error were omitted in the English text, but their equivalent “ou un Vice-Consul" appears in the French text.

contracting parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at the City of Washington as soon as circumstances shall admit.

In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the above articles, under reserve of the abovementioned ratifications, both in the English and French languages, and they have thereunto affixed their seals.

Done, in quadruplicate at the City of Berne, this twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

[SEAL.] A. DUDLEY MANN.

SEAL.

H. DRUEY.

SEAL.

F. FREY-HÉROSÉE.

1883.

REGISTRATION OF TRADE-MARKS.

Dated April 27, 1883, and May 14, 1883.

SWISS LEGATION, Washington, April 27, 1883.

To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Washington.

Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: The undersigned, Minister of the Swiss Confederation, has this day had the honor to receive your note of the 24th instant, whereby you had the kindness to acquaint him with your views concerning an exchange of declarations between the United States and the Swiss Confederation, relative to the mutual protection of trade marks.

The undersigned sees by the aforesaid note that you would prefer to make such an arrangement between the United States and Switzerland in the form of an exchange of notes, inasmuch as that form appears to you to be the most simple, and the best calculated to avoid the difficulties connected with the ratification of a declaration or a convention.

The undersigned has the honor to reply that, for his part, he attaches no special importance to the form of the arrangement, and that he thinks he may say that his Government likewise favors the method proposed by you. In fact, the undersigned, by a communication of the 6th of March last, laid before the Federal Council the text of your note of the 5th of that month, and, at the same time, he proposed to try an exchange of declarations, which, as regards the form, would coincide with your views. The Federal Council having consented thereto by its communication of March 30th, and having instructed the undersigned, with full powers, to make such an arrangement, the undersigned thinks that he represents the intentions of his Government by giving his adhesion to an exchange of notes.

As regards the question whether the principle of reciprocity is embodied in the Federal law of December 19, 1879, the undersigned has the honor to invite your attention to the text of Article 7, paragraph 2, of the Federal Law of December 19, 1879, and also to the contents of the message of the Federal Council relative thereto. In the aforesaid paragraph of the law of December 19, 1879, it is expressly provided that producers and merchants, whose business is carried on in a state which accords the right of reciprocity to Swiss citizens, may have their marks registered in the same manner as Swiss citizens.

« PreviousContinue »