employé on the spot, from the president of the local council, or from the president or a member of the local vestry or hundred Court. When such notification has been made to the police authorities regarding the accident, or such accident have come to their knowledge by other means, such authority shall hold an enquiry into the accident with all possible speed; nevertheless, when the notification is accompanied by a declaration signed by or on behalf of the employer, to the effect that the accident occurred under such circumstances as to entail liability for compensation under this Law, the enquiry need only be held if the police authorities deem such enquiry necessary. The police authority mentioned in this section is, in the country, the sheriff ("länsman"); in the town, where there is a police station, the police officer; and in other towns the Magistrate, or, where the latter does not exist, the local governing body. The police authorities in the country or in any other town than Stockholm are bound immediately to transmit documents received and, when an enquiry has been held, the minutes of such an enquiry to the County Government Board ("KonungsBefällningshaf vande"). 13. Claim for compensation shall, in accordance with this Law-in the event of being non-suited--be made by summons or by application of the arbitration agreement against an employer within two years and against the Government Insurance Company within three years, reckoned from the time of accident, or, when it is a question of compensation for death, from the date of the occurrence of such death. But the present regulation does not apply when the parties during the said time have agreed as to compensation, or have agreed to refer the question of compensation to the final decision of the arbitrator. 14. The competent Court for considering questions of compensation in accordance with this Law is the common Court of the place in which the accident occurred or in which the plaintiff has his dwelling or is domiciled. Should the question be referred to the Court, the Court or the Judge will demand the production of the minutes and other documents, as mentioned in section 12. Should it be evident that the defendant has a bad case, or, this not being the case, should the difference be merely one of amount of compensation, the Court, on application of the plaintiff, has the right to grant in the former case a reasonable amount (not less than what the defendant had agreed to), and in the latter that the undisputed amount shall be paid out to the applicant on his request. If the Court orders prepayment as above, such decision must be carried out as being a judgment having the force of law. A final decision imposing liability for payment on the defendant must be similarly carried out, unless otherwise decreed by the Court. 15. If the injured party is not insured by the employer, as stated in section 10, the parties, if they so agree, and after the suit as to compensation has been instituted before the Court or referred to arbitration, the Court or the arbitrators from the State insurance office may call for a report as to how far the work on which the injured man was occupied is such as this Law deals with, or to what degree the bodily injury may be considered to have diminished the capacity to work. Such reports shall be furnished by the State Insurance Company free of charge. 16. Should compensation have been granted to the injured workman by decision of the Court or the arbitrators or by agreement, and should the circumstances under which such compensation was granted become materially altered, application for modification of such compensation may be made within two years of such decision. The proper Court for consideration of such application is the lower Court (" underrätt") which decreed the compensation, or before which the compensation was agreed upon by the arbitrators or by mutual agreement, as the common lower Court ("allmänunderrätt") of the place at which the accident occurred. Modification shall not affect compensation payable previously to the day on which application is made for such modification either by summons or request for arbitration. If the person liable for compensation claims modification of the same, such modification cannot affect payments made previously to the date of the claim. 17. If the employer be declared a bankrupt, payment shall be made on account of the pension due under this law, calculated according to the capitalized value of the pension due on the day when the bankruptcy was declared. In the case of a life pension to an injured workman, the amount of capital allotted may not be drawn by the workman; instead, the administrator of the bankrupt estate shall purchase with it a life pension for the said workman from the State Insurance Company. This, however, does not hold good when the pension to be bought in the State Insurance Company is less than 45 kroner a-year. 18. If an employer neglect to pay a life pension on demand as prescribed, or should a private employer give up his business, or remove abroad, or his business through death or assignment be transferred to another, or his business be put into liquidation, the drawer of a life pension, whose claim is based on a written agreement or on a legal decision having the force of a final judgment, may apply to the executor-general to lodge a claim against the employer or his heirs to force him to hand in a pledge or guarantee to the executor-general in accordance with section 48 of the Debtors Act. Should the claim be based upon the fact that the employer neglected to pay the life pension on demand as prescribed, the claim shall state that the employer shall be freed from liability to provide a guarantee if, within a time stated by the executorgeneral, at least one or at most two weeks from the sending in of the claim, he (the employer) proves that the life pension due and lawful interest thereon and compensation for expenses to an amount set out in the claim by the executor-general have been paid in full. If the security loses its value, the drawer of a life pension has in the same manner the right to demand the granting of a fresh surety. The guarantee of the executor-general may not be recognized unless given as for his own debt. Should a surety not be forthcoming within the stated time, the executor-general must bind the debtor to pay out the amount of the capital of the life pension on the day when the payment is made and of the pension due up till that day, together with the lawful interest on such portion of it as according to section 7 may be due for payment before such day. The amount the debtor has to pay the executor must cause to be withdrawn at once. With regard to treatment of such a case and complaints as to the executor-general's decision, the Regulations of the Debtors Act come into force in so far as applicable; nevertheless, when the case is referred on appeal to the Court, the Court alone has the right of deciding liability for payment, upon which the applicant has the right to notify the case to the executor-general for further consideration. In the case of a life pension to an injured labourer, such capital as has been realised shall not be drawn by the workman, but instead shall be used by the executor-general to purchase a life pension in the State insurance office; this, however, does not hold good when the pension to be purchased amounts to less than 45 kroner a-year. 19. By the capital value of a life pension is understood (in sections 17 and 18) the sum which will purchase such a pension in the State insurance office. 20. Such right to compensation cannot be transferred, nor may it be taken in settlement of debt. 21. Employers wishing to make special agreements with workmen with regard to compensation, to be paid in the event of future accidents, must submit such arrangements to the State insurance office for approval. Such arrangements cannot be approved if the State insurance office, after careful examination of the agreement, finds its conditions unfavourable to the workmen. Agreements made in writing, in accordance with approved arrangements, are valid. Such approval may at any time be rescinded, but that does not affect the validity of the agreement made before the employer was formally notified of the withdrawal of the approval. Should any agreement with regard to compensation to be paid in case of accident be made otherwise than stated in the above section, the agreement is not binding on the recipient of the pension so long as it was not made in writing after the accident, or, in cases of compensation for funeral expenses or of a life pension to the survivors of an injured workman after the latter's death, should the agreement provide that in the place of a life, pension to an injured workman a certain amount shall be paid down. The above does not hold good except when the amount of the life pension is less than 45 kroner a-year. 22. If the employer or foreman neglect to send in the doctor's certificate or other certificates, as prescribed by section 12, a fine is imposed of 5 to 200 kroner. Should anyone make an untrue statement against his better knowledge, a fine is imposed of 25 to 1,000 kroner in cases in which the ordinary criminal law does not apply. Fines inflicted according to this section fall to the Crown. Should the means be wanting to pay such fines, they may be commuted in accordance with common criminal law. 23. An employer in a trade other than that covered by this Law, wishing by insurance in the State insurance office to provide for compensation in accordance with the conditions laid down in this Law for injury from accident suffered during the performance of the work in question, is entitled so to provide: if such insurance has been made, the prescriptions of the Law shall apply correspondingly. 24. A workman, whether engaged in work included in this law or not, can by insurance in the State insurance office ensure compensation in accordance with the prescriptions of this Law for injuries received from accident during such work. Right to compensation on the strength of such insurance may not be transferred, and may not be given in pledge for debt. 25. The expenses of insurance of a workman in the State insurance office must be fixed at an amount which, with respect to the general danger of the work and to the special conditions under which it is carried on, shall be proved to be sufficient for the covering of such risks as the insurance is intended for. The expenses of the organization and administration of the State insurance office are defrayed by the State. 26. Any further prescriptions which may become necessary over and above those contained in this Law with regard to the operations of the State insurance office will be issued by the Crown. 27. This Law cancels the conditions laid down in the Law of the 12th March, 1886, regarding the responsibility for injury in connection with service on the railway, binding railway owners or managers to give compensation when, as a result of railway work, labourers or foremen in the service or employ of the railway during their work are injured or killed; the said conditions, however, shall still apply in the place of the prescriptions contained in this Law in cases of workmen and foremen who, at the time this Law comes into force, are in the service or employ of the railway. This Law comes into force at a time to be appointed by the King, after the State insurance office, mentioned in section 10, has been established, but it does not apply in cases of accident occurring before such time. Department of Justice, L. ANNERSTEDT. OSCAR. ITALIAN NOTIFICATION of the Accession of Sweden to the International Agreement of December 9, 1907, respecting the Creation of an International Office of Public Health.London, August 23, 1909.* The Italian Ambassador to Sir Edward Grey. (Translation.) SIR, Italian Embassy, London, August 23, 1909. UNDER instructions from my Government, I have the honour to inform your Excellency that the Swedish Government has acceded, in the third category, to the Rome Agreement of the 9th December, 1907,† for the creation of an International Office of Public Health at Paris. In requesting you to be good enough to communicate the above to the Government of India, I have, &c. A. DI SAN GIULIANO. ARBITRATION CONVENTION between the United States and Switzerland.-Signed at Washington, February 29, 1908.‡ [Ratifications exchanged at Washington, December 23, 1908.] THE Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Swiss Confederation, signatories of the Convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes, concluded at The Hague on the 29th July, 1899; § Taking into consideration that by Article XIX of that Convention the High Contracting Parties have reserved to themselves the right of concluding agreements, with a view to referring to arbitration all questions which they shall consider possible to submit to such treatment; “ Treaty Series No. 22 (1909).” [1908-9. CII.] 3 G + Vol. C, page 466. |