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The Shanghai Mixed Court was an international court applying Chinese law to Chinese nationals and unrepresented nationals in the Shanghai International Settlement between 1864 and 1927.
The collapse of Qing rule in Shanghai during the Taiping rebellion led to significant numbers of Chinese settling in the international areas, [1] though they were ostensibly prohibited from renting property there. [2] In the absence of Qing administration, the people living in the international settlements, while legally under Qing law, were de facto administered by the existing and functioning foreign courts.
Unsatisfied with this state of affairs, in 1864, the "Mixed Court" was established, with a Qing official cooperating with a foreign consul to achieve some verdict. [3] [4] These courts ruled on Chinese law, applying it to Chinese subjects and "unrepresented foreigners" who belonged to non-treaty state nations. [5] Around the same time, the British moved their main court for extraterritorial cases in China, the British Supreme Court for China, from Hong Kong to Shanghai's British concession, partly under pressure from Qing officials who were concerned with Britain sending its subjects all the way to England for punishment. [6] In British extraterritorial courts, while Qing officials were present in mixed cases, they were sidelined. [7]
The Mixed Court itself, when trying cases involving only Chinese citizens, similarly sidelined foreign influence. The Mixed Court served, for the Qing government, as a symbol of extraterritorial jurisdiction over the Chinese community present in the international settlements, where Chinese were deemed foreigners. [8] In the last decade of the Qing dynasty, with growing nationalist sentiment, the problems associated with various different jurisdictions became quite evident as revolutionaries used the protection of foreign jurisdiction to violate Qing dynasty sedition and lèse-majesté laws. [9]
The Court was closed on January 1, 1927. [10]
Treaty ports were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire.
In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations.
Extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries.
The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several documents signed at Tianjin in June 1858. They ended the first phase of the Second Opium War, which had begun in 1856. The Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Second French Empire, United Kingdom, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties, counted by the Chinese among the so-called unequal treaties, opened more Chinese ports to foreign trade, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allowed Christian missionary activity, and effectively legalized the import of opium.
The Shanghai International Settlement originated from the merger in the year 1863 of the British and American enclaves in Shanghai, in which British subjects and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction under the terms of treaties signed in the nineteenth century with the Qing Dynasty. These treaties were abrogated in 1943 by agreement with the Kuomintang, then based in Chungking.
In international relations, a concession is a "synallagmatic act by which a State transfers the exercise of rights or functions proper to itself to a foreign private test which, in turn, participates in the performance of public functions and thus gains a privileged position vis-a-vis other private law subjects within the jurisdiction of the State concerned." International concessions are not defined in international law and do not generally fall under it. Rather, they are governed by the municipal law of the conceding state. There may, however, be a law of succession for such concessions, whereby the concession is continued even when the conceding state ceases to exist.
An international zone is any area not fully subject to the border control policies of the state in which it is located. There are several types of international zones ranging from special economic zones and sterile zones at ports of entry exempt from customs rules to concessions over which administration is ceded to one or more foreign states. International zones may also maintain distinct visa policies from the rest of the surrounding state.
Concessions in China were a group of concessions that existed during the late Imperial China and the Republic of China, which were governed and occupied by foreign powers, and are frequently associated with colonialism and imperialism.
The May Thirtieth Movement was a major labor and anti-imperialist movement during the middle-period of the Republic of China era. It began when the Shanghai Municipal Police opened fire on Chinese protesters in Shanghai's International Settlement on May 30, 1925. The shootings sparked international censure and nationwide anti-foreign demonstrations and riots.
The United States Court for China was a United States district court that had extraterritorial jurisdiction over U.S. citizens in China. It existed from 1906 to 1943 and had jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, with appeals taken to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.
The Treaty of the Bogue was a treaty between China and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, concluded in October 1843 to supplement the previous Treaty of Nanking. The treaty's key provisions granted extraterritoriality and most favored nation status to Britain.
The Shanghai French Concession was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The concession came to an end in 1943 when the French State under German pressure signed it over to the pro-Japanese Reorganized National Government of China in Nanjing. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the premier residential and retail district of Shanghai, and was also one of the centres of Catholicism in China. Despite re-development over the last few decades, the area retains a distinct character and is a popular tourist destination.
The Mixed Courts of Egypt were founded in October 1875 by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha. Designed by Nubar Nubarian Pasha to be part of the Khedive's great plans for Egypt, the Mixed Courts led to a radical reform of Egypt's chaotic nineteenth century legal system, where Consular courts competed with Government tribunals and religious courts for jurisdiction. The completion of the Suez Canal (1869) and the development of the cotton trade had attracted many foreign interests and foreign nationals to Egypt.
The Old City of Shanghai, also formerly known as the Chinese city, is the traditional urban core of Shanghai. Its boundary was formerly defined by a defensive wall. The Old City was the county seat for the old county of Shanghai. With the advent of foreign concessions in Shanghai, the Old City became just one part of Shanghai's urban core but continued for decades to be the seat of the Chinese authority in Shanghai. Notable features include the City God Temple which is located in the center of the Old City and is connected to the Yuyuan Garden. With the exception of two short sections, the walls were demolished in 1912, and a broad circular avenue built over the former wall and moat: the southern half was named the "Zhonghua Road" and the northern half the "Minguo Road". .
The British Supreme Court for China was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles of extraterritoriality.
The British Court for Japan was a court established in Yokohama in 1879 to try cases against British subjects in Japan, under the principles of extraterritoriality. The court also heard appeals from British consular courts in Japan. Appeals from the British Court for Japan lay to the British Supreme Court for China and Japan based in the Shanghai International Settlement.
The Mackay Treaty was a sixteen article treaty signed by the governments of Great Britain and the Chinese Qing dynasty on 5 September 1902. Under the terms of the treaty, the likin system of taxation was abolished and the first moves made to abolish extraterritoriality for foreign nationals.
Consular courts were law courts established by foreign powers in countries where they had extraterritorial rights. They were presided over by consular officers.
The circuit intendant of Shanghai or the daotai of Shanghai, also formerly romanized as taotai or tao tai, was an imperial Chinese official who oversaw the circuit of Shanghai, then part of Jiangsu Province, in the Qing Empire. He oversaw the area's courts, law enforcement, civic defense, canals, and customs collection. As well as areas within modern Shanghai, his remit also included Qidong in present-day Jiangsu.
The British Concession or Settlement was a foreign enclave in Shanghai within the Qing Empire which existed from around 1845 until its unification with the American area, located directly north of it across the Soochow Creek to form the Shanghai International Settlement in 1863.