These territories form no part of the British dominions, and consequently the Queen cannot legislate for her subjects residing in these countries in the same way as for those in countries which have come to the Crown by conquest or cession-the jurisdiction of Her Majesty in foreign countries being derived either by treaty or by sufferance.

By the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts Her Majesty has been empowered to exercise jurisdiction thus obtained.

These Acts are the foundation of the Orders in Council providing for the jurisdiction of the Consular Courts. Three Orders in Council affecting this region have been issued thereunder-the Africa Orders in

Council, 1889, 1892, and 1893. The first is a very important Order, and may be said to be the warrant for all consular jurisdiction in the Protectorate; the second is a short Order (outcome of the General Act of the Conference of Berlin extending jurisdiction to foreigners. in the Protectorate who are subjects of the signatory Powers to the General Act); and the third applying the Order of 1889 to natives of any of Her Majesty's Protectorates when in the local jurisdictions. By the Order in Council of 1889 jurisdiction extends to British subjects, foreigners who submit themselves to the Court, and to all persons with "respect to whom any State, king, or chief, or government, whose subjects or under whose protection they are, has, by any treaty or otherwise, agreed with Her Majesty for or consented to the exercise of power or authority by Her Majesty." This carries jurisdiction over the natives of the country (British subjects, including persons enjoying protection) as also subjects of European States. The Berlin Act contemplated the establishment of Protectorates in

Africa and of an existing British Protectorate on the Niger; and by Article 35 the Act recognized the obligation to ensure the establishment of authority in occupied regions sufficient to protect existing rights and the freedom of trade; and this country undertook to protect foreign merchants and all the trading nationalities in all those portions of the Niger which were or might be under its sovereignty or protection, as if they were British subjects. This is confirmed by the Brussels Act; and consent of the signatory Powers to whatever jurisdiction might be found necessary to be assumed by this country in the Protectorate, both civil and criminal, cannot be denied.

It should be noticed, however, that no power is assumed by the Order over subjects whose Government have not consented to the exercise of jurisdiction.

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CHAPTER II.

THE FOREIGN JURISDICTION ACTS.

THE power of Consular Officers to exercise jurisdiction in countries out of the Queen's dominions depends on the rights which have been granted by treaty or otherwise, by those countries, and the extent to which Her Majesty may be pleased by Orders in Council to exercise jurisdiction thus obtained by virtue of the powers conferred on Her Majesty by Acts of Parliament. In 1843 the first Foreign Jurisdiction Act was passed, and since that date several other Acts dealing with the subject have been added. All these Acts, by an Act of 53 & 54 Vict. c. 37 (the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890), have been repealed and consolidated. Under one or other of these Acts all power in modern times for Her Majesty to exercise jurisdiction out of her dominions is derived, and these may be therefore referred to as the enabling Acts. By the consolidating Act of 1890 it is provided that any Order in Council made in pursuance of any enactment repealed, should, if in force at the passing thereof, continue in force until altered or revoked as if made in pursuance of that Act, and should be deemed to have been made under the Act of 1890; and any Order in Council referring to any enactment

repealed should be construed to refer to the corresponding enactment in the consolidating Act.

On a reference to the Act of 1890 it will be seen that the preamble recites that by treaty, capitulation, grant, usage, sufferance, and other lawful means, Her Majesty has jurisdiction within divers foreign countries. These expressions may be covered by the two general heads, "treaty" and "sufferance."

The Act proceeds to enact that it is lawful for Her Majesty to hold, exercise, and enjoy any jurisdiction she has, or may hereafter have, within a foreign country, in the same and as ample a manner as if the same had been acquired by cession or conquest of territory (the allusion to cession and conquest of territory, it is to be noted, does not confer additional powers outside Her Majesty's jurisdiction, but is confined to the mode of exercise of the jurisdiction that has been granted by treaty). Section 2 is important as referring specially to countries without regular government. It provides that Her Majesty shall have jurisdiction over her subjects for the time being resident in or resorting to countries not subject to any government from whom jurisdiction might have been obtained in manner provided by the Act, and practically gives Her Majesty power to exercise unlimited jurisdiction in such places. The following sections enact that things done in pursuance of jurisdiction in a foreign country shall be as valid as if they had been done according to the local law of the foreign country. Questions that may arise as to the existence or extent of jurisdiction, are to be decided by a reference to a Secretary of State, whose decision is to be final. By section 5, Her Majesty has power, by Order in Council, to direct that certain Acts referred to in the schedule shall extend with or without any exceptions,

adaptations, or modifications in the Order mentioned to any foreign country, and thereupon these enactments shall, to the extent of jurisdiction, operate as if the country were a British possession and Her Majesty in Council the legislature thereof. In the succeeding Chapters will be noticed the Acts referred to.

Persons charged with offences cognizable by a Consular Court may, by warrant, be sent for trial to a British possession appointed by Order in Council, and the accused may, before being sent for trial, tender for examination any competent witness whose evidence is material, and whom he alleges he is unable to produce at the trial; and the section deals with the mode of taking such evidence and its transmission to the Court that is to try and its admissibility in that Court. Where an offender is sentenced to death by a Consular Court, the sentence is to be carried out in such place as directed by Order in Council. Deportation and detention, according to the Order, is to be as lawful as if the Order were to have effect in the foreign country.

Section 9 provides power for the Queen in Council to confer on any Court in any British possession any jurisdiction, civil or criminal, original or appellate, which may lawfully be assigned to any Consular Court.

Sections following provide power by Order in Council to revoke or vary any Order. All Orders made are to be laid before Parliament; Orders repugnant to any Act or Order made thereunder are to be subject to that Act or Order, and not to be void if repugnant only to the law of England. For protection of persons acting under the Act or Orders, and limits the time for commencing proceedings. Section 14 refers to subjects on vessels within a certain radius of China and Japan, and has no reference to the scope of this work. Sections follow including