from the last-named register will be sufficient for them in order to furnish to the local authorities the proof which the latter require. As it is desirable that the utility of registration be known to all parties concerned, you will please post up on the doors of your office the notice which my department places at your disposal for this purpose. This notice invites Belgians residing abroad to register at the consulate within whose jurisdiction they reside. It also calls attention to the fact that consuls are authorized to grant a total or partial remission of the fees established for the delivery or viséing of the certificates of registration. Whenever any person not situated in easy circumstances asks such a favor of you, I can only state that I shall be obliged to you to comply with his request. Please accept, etc., [Enclosure in despatch from Mr. Sorsby, minister to Bolivia, October 4, 1906.] The minister of foreign affairs to Mr. Sorsby, August 31, 1906. No. 18.] [Translation.] MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, La Paz, August 31, 1906. Mr. MINISTER: In reply to your estimable dispatch of the 22nd instant, in which you request this ministry to furnish you with the laws in force with respect to citizenship, expatriation, and protection of Bolivian citizens abroad, I have to say that the articles of the litical constitution in force, promulgated October 28, 1880, and which govern the matter, are as follows: ARTICLE 31. The following are Bolivians by birth: 1st. Those born within the territory of the Republic. po 2nd. Those born abroad of a Bolivian father or mother in the service of the Republic, or who have emigrated for political causes; these are Bolivians even in those cases in which the law imposes the condition of having been born in Bolivian territory. ARTICLE 32. The following are also Bolivians: 1st. Children born abroad of a Bolivian father or mother, by the mere fact of settling in Bolivia. 2nd. Foreigners who, having resided one year in the Republic, declare their desire to settle in Bolivia before the authorities of the municipality in which they reside. 3rd. Foreigners who obtain naturalization papers from the Chamber of Deputies as a privilege. ARTICLE 33. In order to be a citizen it is necessary: 1st. To be a Bolivian; 2nd. To be 21 years of age if single, or 18 if married; 3. To be able to read and write and to be possessed of real estate, or an annual income of two hundred bolivianos not derived from services as a domestic servant; and 4th. To be inscribed in the civil register. ARTICLE 34. The rights of citizenship consist: 1. In participation, as elector or elected, in the formation or exercise of the public powers. 2. In being eligible to public offices without any other requisite than fitness, save the exceptions established by this constitution. ARTICLE 35. The rights of citizenship are lost: 1st. By becoming naturalized in a foreign country; 2nd. By being sentenced by a competent tribunal to corporal punishment until rehabilitation; 3rd. By making a declaration of fraudulent bankruptcy; and 4th. By accepting employment, office, or decorations from a foreign Government without special permission of the Senate. ARTICLE 36. The rights of citizenship are suspended for being sub judice by virtue of a decree of impeachment, or for having been distrained as a debtor to the public treasury after the expiration of the period fixed for payment. With the hope of having complied with your request, I take pleasure in renewing the assurances of my high and distinguished con sideration. To His Excellency Mr. WILLIAM B. SORSBY, CLAUDIO PINILLA. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. BRAZIL. [Enclosure in despatch from Mr. Griscom, ambassador to Brazil, October 13, 1906.] The minister for foreign affairs to Mr. Griscom, October 8, 1906. Second section.] [Translation.] MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MR. AMBASSADOR: I have before me note No. 23 which your excellency sent me on August 11 requesting explanations about the laws which regulate the rights of Brazilian citizenship and the way we protect our citizens residing in foreign countries. To the first question formulated in the said note it is my duty to answer that the rights of citizenship are those stated in articles 72 to 78 of the Federal constitution. As to the second question, decree No. 569 of June 7, 1899, says: ART. 1. The rights of Brazilian citizenship are lost to those: SEC. 1. Who become naturalized in a foreign country. (Constitution, art. 71, sec. 2, letter A.) SEC. 2. Who accept any employment or pension from a foreign government without permission of the Federal executive. (Constitution, art. 71, sec. 2, letter B.) * * ART. 5. Lose all political rights: SEC. 1. Brazilians who allege reasons of religious faith in order to dispense with whatever duty the laws of the Republic may by chance impose on its citizens. (Constitution, art. 72, sec. 29.) SEC. 2. Brazilians who accept foreign decorations or titles of nobility. (Constitution, art. 72, sec. 29.) To the third question, your excellency will find the answer in the said articles 2 and 5, and in addition in numbers 3, 4, and 7 of the above-mentioned decree, which I transcribe below: ART. 3. The national who has lost his citizenship reacquires the rights of Brazilian citizenship when he obtains his reintegration by decree (of the executive), provided he is domiciled in Brazil. SEC. 1. In order to accomplish this the petitioner will address a petition to the President of the Republic, through the minister of the interior or of the governor or president of the State in which he resides. His signature must be duly certified and the chief district attorney (procurador geral) of the Republic may give his opinion thereon. SEC. 2. The Brazilian who thus reacquires his nationality will enjoy from that time on all the rights which exclusively belong to Brazilian citizens. ART. 4. The minor children of the national thus reintegrated in his rights are in the same condition as their father, if the law of the country to which they belonged permits the collective result of loss of citizenship. ART. 7. Reacquire political rights: SEC. 1. Brazilians who, having lost their citizenship, should affirm, by a signed statement with two witnesses, before the minister of the interior, governor, or president of the State in which they reside, to be ready to undergo the burdens (duties) imposed on citizens by the laws of the Republic, and from which they were already freed. SEC. 2. Brazilians who have lost their citizenship and who by a like affidavit affirm that they have given up the decoration or title which they had accepted. The communication of the fact must be transmitted to the respective Government by the regular diplomatic channels. SEC. 3. In either case the Executive, to whom a copy of the affidavit signed before the governor or president of the State shall be transmitted, will issue the decrees confirming the said declarations. In regard to the fourth question I must tell your excellency that residence in foreign countries does not affect the rights of a native citizen. And as to the last, the Brazilian Government protects its citizens in conformity with the principles established by international law. I have the honor to reiterate to your excellency the assurances of my high consideration. RIO BRANCO. CONSTITUTION. [Translation.] TITLE IV.-Brazilian citizens. SECTION I-Qualifications of Brazilian citizens. ART. 69. The following are Brazilian citizens: 1. Persons born in Brazil, even though of a foreign father, provided he is not here in the employ of his government. 2. Children of a Brazilian father, and illegitimate children of a Brazilian mother, who are born abroad, provided they establish their domicile in the Republic. 3. Children of a Brazilian father residing in another country in the service of the Republic, even though they do not take up their residence here. 4. All foreigners in Brazil on November 15, 1889, who do not declare their intention to retain their original nationality within six months after the constitution goes into force. 5. Foreigners who own real estate in Brazil, and are married to Brazilian women, or have Brazilian children, provided they reside in Brazil, unless they declare their intention not to change their nationality. 6. All foreigners otherwise naturalized. ART. 70. All citizens 21 years of age who register in the manner prescribed by law are voters. H. Doc. 326, 59-2-19 SEC. 1. The following persons can not register for either Federal or State elections: 1. Beggars. 2. Illiterates. 3. Enlisted soldiers, except the pupils of military schools for higher instruction. 4. Members of monastic orders, societies, congregations, or communities of whatsoever denomination, who are subject to a vow of obedience, or to a rule or by-law which implies the surrender of individual liberty. SEC. 2. Citizens who are not allowed to register are not eligible to office. ART. 71. The rights of a Brazilian citizen shall only be suspended or lost in the following cases: SEC. 1. They shall be suspended (a) For physical or moral incapacity; (b) As a result of criminal condemnation, while the sentence lasts. SEC. 2. They are lost (a) By becoming naturalized in a foreign country; (b) By accepting employment or pension from a foreign government without the permission of the federal executive. SEC. 3. The conditions under which the right of Brazilian citizenship may be recovered shall be determined by a federal statute. CHILE. CONSTITUTION (1833). [Translation.] ART. 5 (6). The following are Chileans: 1. Those born in the territory of Chile. 2. The children of a Chilean father or mother, born in foreign territory, by the mere fact of their settling in Chile. The children of Chileans, born in foreign territory, if the father is actually in the service of Chile, are Chileans even for the purposes of the fundamental laws or any other laws which require birth in Chilean territory. 3. Foreigners who, having resided in the Republic one year, declare their desire to settle in Chile before the municipality of the Territory in which they reside, and apply for naturalization papers. 4. Those who have been naturalized as a special favor by the Congress. ART. 6 (7). It shall be the duty of the municipality of the department in which persons not born in Chile reside to declare whether or not they are entitled to become naturalized in accordance with section 3 of the foregoing article. When the declaration made by the proper municipality is favorable, the President of the Republic shall issue the naturalization papers. ART. 7 (8). Chileans who have reached the age of twenty-one years, who can read and write, and who are inscribed in the register of voters of their department, are active citizens entitled to vote. The said registers shall be public and shall continue for the time determined by law. The inscriptions shall be continuous and shall only be suspended for the period fixed by the law on elections. ART. 8 (10). Active citizenship, including the right to vote, shall be suspended for the following causes: 1. Physical or moral disability which prevents free and deliberate action. 2. Being employed as a domestic servant. 3. Prosecution for a crime involving corporal or infamous punish ment. ART. 9 (11). Citizenship is lost for the following causes: 1. Condemnation to corporal or infamous punishment. 2. Fraudulent bankruptcy. 3. Naturalization in a foreign country. 4. Acceptance of employment, office, or pension from a foreign government without special permission from Congress. Persons who have lost their citizenship for any of the causes mentioned in this article may request rehabilitation from the Senate. CHINA. [Enclosure in despatch from Mr. Coolidge, chargé d'affaires, No. 451, November 16, 1906.] Ministers of the Wai Wu Pu to Mr. Coolidge, November 15, 1906. [Translation.] PEKING, November 15, 1906. YOUR EXCELLENCY: On August 16 we received a note from His Excellency Mr. Rockhill, saying that he had been instructed by circular from his Government to request certain information touching the laws of citizenship in China, particularly respecting six items which were mentioned. This Board at once communicated with Commissioners on Revision of the Code, asking them to investigate and report. We are now in receipt of their reply, saying that the Code of China as yet contains no provisions touching the question of citizenship, but that they were now engaged in an examination of the codes of various countries with a view to the revision of the laws of China, and that after the revision should be completed and promulgated they would inform us so that we might be enabled to communicate to your excellency the facts desired. It becomes our duty, therefore, to send this reply for lency's information, and in doing so, we avail, etc. your excel PRINCE OF CH'ING. CH'Ü HUNG-CHI. TONG SHAO-I. |