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56 TIIE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF
STATES
the United Kingdom informed the Government of India that His Highness
: the Sultan of Muscat had given a formal notice of termination of the Treaty
on the expiry of its twelve years, i.c., 11th February, 1951. In view of the
constitutional changes in India, the Sultan had also expressed a desire to
:
enter into a new separate Treaty with India. India, accordingly, entered into
a Treaty with the Sultan to replace the old one.1
:
The Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights between
the President of the United States and the Sultan of Muscat and Oman
and Dependencies, signed at Salalah on 20 December 19582
; This new treaty which entered into force on 11 June 1960, upon the
exchange of instruments of ratification, replaced and terminated the
old Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 21 September 1833.3 The latter
treaty provided, under Article IX, for extra-territorial jurisdiction to
:
be exercised by United States’ consuls in Muscat. It thus stated that
American ‘consuls shall be exclusive judges of all disputes or suits
wherein American citizens shall be engaged with each other’ within
1 the Sultan’s territories.4 Now the Treaty of 20 December 1958 has
completely abolished this extra-territorial jurisdiction for the United
States in Muscat. Instead, the United States’ nationals arc now techni­
cally subject to the jurisdiction of the Sultan’s courts. On this matter,
Article III of the treaty states:
Nationals and companies of either Party shall have free access to the courts
of justice and administrative agencies within the territories of the other
Party, in all degrees of jurisdiction, both in defense and in pursuit of their
rights. Such access shall be allowed upon terms no less favorable than those
applicable to nationals and companies of such other Party or of any third
country, including the terms applicable to requirements for deposit of
security . . .
The other articles of the treaty deal, inter alia, with the maintenance
of freedom of commerce and navigation and the development of
economic relations between the two countries on a reciprocal basis.
They also provide for a reciprocal and most-favoured nation treat­
ment. Accordingly, Article V states:
1. Nationals and companies of either Party . . . shall in no case be accorded
treatment less favourable than that accorded to nationals and companies of
any third country with respect to establishing or acquiring interests in

1 Ad Hoc Committee on Oman, op. cit., p. 130. Although there is at present an
Indian consul in Muscat, the latter has not yet appointed a consul in India.
2 United States, Department of State, Treaties in Force: A List of Treaties and
Other International Agreements of the United States, vol. 11 (1960), pp. 1835-46.
3 Aitchison, Appendix No. I, p. xvii. ... . . .
4 It is maintained that this ‘was the only remaining instance of extra-territorial
Jurisdiction of the United States’. See Myers, Denys P., ‘Contemporary Practice of
the United States Relating to International Law’, A.J.I.L., 54 (1960), pp. 650-1.