sea; they shall examine and take note of the stowage; and when there are no stipulations to the contrary between the owners, freighters, or insurers, they shall be charged with the repairs. If any inhabitants of the country in which the Consuls reside, or citizens of a third nation, are interested in the matter, and the parties cannot agree, the competent local authority shall decide.

1441. ARTICLE XI.

All proceedings relative to the salvage of American vessels wrecked upon the coasts of France, and of French vessels wrecked upon the coasts of the United States, shall be respectively directed by the ConsulsGeneral, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls of the United States in France, and by the Consuls-General, Consuls, and Vice-Consuls of France in the United States, and until their arrival by the respective Consular Agents wherever an agency exists. In the places and ports where an agency does not exist, the local authorities, until the arrival of the Consul in whose district the wreck may have occurred, and who shall be immediately informed of the occurrence, shall take all necessary measures for the protection of persons and the preservation of property.

The local authorities shall not otherwise interfere than for the maintenance of order, the protection of the interests of the salvors if they do not belong to the crews that have been wrecked, and to carry into effect the arrangements made for the entry and exportation of the merchandise saved.

It is understood that such merchandise shall not be subjected to any custom-house duty if it is to be re-exported; and if it be entered for consumption a diminution of such duty shall be allowed in conformity with the regulations of the respective countries.

1442. ARTICLE XII.

The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents, as well as their Consular Pupils, Chancellors, and Secretaries, shall enjoy in the two countries all the other privileges, exemptions, and immunities which may at any future time be granted to the agents of the same rank of the most favored nation.

GERMANY.

[See also HANSEATIC REPUBLICS.]

GERMAN EMPIRE.

Consular Convention concluded December 11, 1871 (Consuls and trade

marks).

1443. ARTICLE I.

Each of the contracting parties agrees to receive from the other Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, in all its ports, cities, and places, except those where it may not be convenient to recognize such officers. This reservation, however, shall not apply to one of the contracting parties without also applying to every other power.

1444. ARTICLE II.

The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents shall be reciprocally received and recognized, on the presentation of their commissions, in the forms established in their respective countries. The necessary exequatur for the exercise of their functions shall be furnished to them free of charge, and, on the exhibition of this instrument, they shall be admitted at once, and without difficulty, by the territorial authorities, Federal, State, or communal, judicial or executive, of the port, cities, and places of their residence and district, to the enjoyment of the prerogatives reciprocally granted. The Government that furnishes the exequatur reserves the right to withdraw the same on a statement of the reasons for which it has thought proper to do so.

1445. ARTICLE III.

The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents, as well as their Chancellors and Secretaries, shall enjoy in the two countries all privileges, exemptions, and immunities which have been granted, or may in future be granted, to the agents of the same rank of the most favored nation. Consular Officers, not being citizens of the country where they are accredited, shall enjoy, in the country of their residence, personal immunity from arrest or imprisonment except in the case of crimes, exemption from military billetings and contributions, from military service of every sort, and other public duties, and from all direct or personal or sumptuary taxes, duties, and contributions, whether Federal, State, or municipal. If, however, the said Consular Officers are or become owners of property in the country in which they reside, or engage in commerce, they shall be subject to the same

taxes and imposts, and to the same jurisdiction as citizens of the country, property-holders, or merchants. But under no circumstances shall their official income be subject to any tax. Consular Officers who engage in commerce shall not plead their Consular privileges to avoid their commercial liabilities. Consular Officers of either character shall not in any event be interfered with in the exercise of their official functions, further than is indispensable for the administration of the laws of the country.

1446. ARTICLE IV.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents may place over the outer door of their offices, or of their dwellings, the arms of their nation, with the proper inscription indicative of the office. And they may also hoist the flag of their country on their Consular edifice, except in places where a Legation of their country is established.

They may also hoist their flag on board any vessel employed by them in port for the discharge of their duty.

1447. ARTICLE V.

The Consular archives shall be at all times inviolable, and under no pretense whatever shall the local authorities be allowed to examine or seize the papers forming part of them. When, however, a Consular Officer is engaged in other business, the papers relating to the Consulate shall be kept in a separate inclosure.

The offices and dwellings of Consules missi who are not citizens of the country of their residence shall be at all times inviolable. The local authorities shall not, except in the case of the pursuit for crimes, under any pretext invade them. In no case shall they examine or seize the papers there deposited. In no event shall those offices or dwellings be used as places of asylum.

1448. ARTICLE VI.

In the event of the death, prevention, or absence of Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents, their Chancellors or Secretaries, whose official character may have previously been made known to the respective authorities in Germany or in the United States, may temporarily exercise their functions, and, while thus acting, they shall enjoy all the rights, prerogatives, and immunities granted by this convention to the incumbents.

1449. ARTICLE VII.

Consuls-General and Consuls may, with the approbation of their respective Governments, appoint Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in the cities, ports, and places within their Consular jurisdiction. These officers may be citizens of Germany, of the United States, or any other country. They shall be furnished with a commission by the Consul who appoints them and under whose orders they are to act, or by the Government of the country which he represents. They shall enjoy the privileges stipulated for Consular Officers in this convention, subject to the exceptions specified in Article III.

1450. ARTICLE VIII.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents shall have the right to apply to the authorities of the respective countries, whether federal or local, judicial or executive, within the extent of their Consular District, for the redress of any infraction of the treaties and conventions existing between the two countries, or of international law; to ask information of said authorities, and to address said authorities to the end of protecting the rights and interests of their countrymen, especially in cases of the absence of the latter; in which cases such Consuls, etc., shall be presumed to be their legal representatives. If due notice should not be taken of such application, the Consular Officers aforesaid, in he absence of a Diplomatic Agent of their country, may apply directly to the Government of the country where they reside.

1451. ARTICLE IX.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, or Consular Agents of the two countries, or their Chancellors, shall have the right, conformably to the laws and regulations of their country

1. To take at their office or dwelling, at the residence of the parties, or on board of vessels of their own nation, the depositions of the captains and crews, of passengers on board of them, of merchants, or of any other citizens of their own country.

2. To receive and verify unilateral acts, wills, and bequests of their countrymen, and any and all acts of agreement entered upon between citizens of their own country, and between such citizens and the citizens or other inhabitants of the country where they reside; and also all contracts between the latter, provided they relate to property situated

or to business to be transacted in the territory of the nation by which the said Consular Officers are appointed.

All such acts of agreement and other instruments, and also copies and translations thereof, when duly authenticated by such Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, or Consular Agent under his official seal, shall be received by public officials and in courts of justice as legal documents, or as authenticated copies, as the case may be, and shall have the same force and effect as if drawn up or authenticated by competent public officers of one or the other of the two countries.

1452. ARTICLE X.

In case of the death of any citizen of Germany in the United States, or of any citizen of the United States in the German Empire, without having in the country of his decease any known heirs or testamentary executors by him appointed, the competent local authorities shall at once inform the nearest Consular Officer of the nation to which the deceased belongs of the circumstance, in order that the necessary information may be immediately forwarded to parties interested.

The said Consular Officer shall have the right to appear personally or by delegate in all proceeding on behalf of the absent heirs or creditors, until they are duly represented.

In all successions to inheritances citizens of each of the contracting parties shall pay in the country of the other such duties only as they would be liable to pay if they were citizens of the country in which the property is situated or the judicial administration of the same may be exercised.

1453. ARTICLE XI.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents of the two countries are exclusively charged with the inventorying and the safe-keeping of goods and effects of every kind left by sailors or passengers on ships of their nation, who die either on board ship or on land during the voyage or in the port of destination.

1454. ARTICLE XII.

Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents shall be at liberty to go either in person or by proxy on board vessels of their nation admitted to entry and to examine the officers and crews, to examine the ship's papers, to receive declarations concerning their voyage, their destination, and the incidents of the voyage; also to draw up manifests and lists of freight, to facilitate the entry and clearance of their