Page 233 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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Russian and Persian subjects, the said lawsuits or disputes shall be brought before the
Hakim or Governor, and shall not be investigated and decided except in the presence of
the Dragoman of the Mission or of the Consulate. One judicially disposed of such suits
shall not be allowed to be instituted a second time. If, however, circumstauccs should be
of such a nature as to render a second trial necessary, it shall not take place without
previous intimation being given to the Minister, or the Charg6 d'Affaircs, or the Consul of
Russia, and in that case the action shall be brought and decided only in the Dufter, that
is to say, in Supreme Court of the Shah at Tabriz or at Tehran, likwise in the presence
of a Dragoman of the Mission or of the Russian Consulate.
Article 8.
Incase of murder or any other crime committed among Russian subjects, the inves­
tigation and decision of the ease shall be within the exclusive province of the Minister, or
Charge d’Affaircs, or Consul of Russia in virtue of the jurisdiction delegated to them over
their own countrymen. If a Russian subject should happen to be implicated with indivi­
duals of another nation in a criminal suit, lie shall not be prosecuted nor molested in any
way without proofs of his participation in the crime ; and even in that case, as in the
one in which a Russian subject should be charged with direct culpability, the tribunals of
the country shall not be competent to proceed with the trial and judgment of the crime
except in the presence of a delegate of the Mission or of the Russian Consulate, and if
there should be none on the spot in which the crime has been committed, the local author*
ities shall take steps, to send the delinquent to a place to where there is a Consul or a consti­
tuted Russian Agent. The evidence both for and against the accused shall be faithfully
taken by the Hakim and by the Judge of the place, and attested by their signature : trans­
mitted in this form to the place where the offence is to be tried ; this evidence shall con­
stitute a record or authentic summary of the proceedings, unless the accused should clearly
demonstrate the falsity of the same. When the accused shall have been duly convicted
and the sentence passed, he shall be handed over to the Minister, or Chargd d’Affaircs,
or Consul of His Imperial Majesty, who shall send him back to Russia, there to receive the
punishment awarded by the law.
(xli) The Resident’s power to solemnize marriages, 1864.

306. In a letter, dated the 9th November 1863, Lieutenant-Colonel L. Pelly,
„ t „ „ . .. Acting Political Resident at Bushire, asked
Volume 11, 83 of iWv the question whether ‘'as Resident he
is empowered to solemnize marriages within his jurisdiction under 12 and 13
Vic., cap. 68.”

307. This question was referred for the opinion of the Advocate General
and the Government Solicitor submitted the Advocate General’s opinion as
follows :—
" The Persian Gulf, so far as it forms part of Persian territory, is a foreign place or
country within the meaning of Act 12 and 13 Viet., cap. 68, and if there be a British
Consul duly appointed and authorized under section 19 of the above Act to act there,
marriages may be solemnized by such Consul, or allowed by him to be solemnized by any
other person in his presence at the British Consulate and in the presence of two or more
witnesses. The British Resident in the Persian Gulf is not, qud Resident, empowered by
the above act to solemnize any marriages. He may be allowed to do so by the Council, if
there be a duly appointed and authorized Consul, but without such permission he cannot
of his own authority perform any such marriage.”
(xlii) Extension of the Foreign Jurisdiction Act to Persia and the Persian Gulf.
308. On the 19th of April 1866, Lord Clarendon, then Her Majesty’s
Se« k. w. Proceedings, Political 1866, Sept- Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
•mber, No. aa. wrote to the Consul-General at Constanti­
nople, instructing him to prepare a draft of an order to apply the provisions of
the Foreign Jurisdiction Act (6 and 7 Vic., cap. 84) to Persia. Lord Clarendon
observed that, as regards the Resident at Bushire, it seemed doubtful whether
a Consular commission could be issued to him, although he might be empowered
by the Queen in his proper capacity to exercise such jurisdiction as may be
required over British subjects at Bushire and in its neighbourhood. Another
point to be borne in mind was the manner of dealing with Indian subjects of Her
Majesty in civil and criminal cases. Lord Clarendon directed that when the
draft order was framed at Constantinople, it was to be sent home and submitted
to the India Office and law officers of the Crown.
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