ARTICLE VIII.

The maximum tax per ton shall be:

Sixteen milreis in Brazil and five dollars gold in Colombia for vessels

of 30 to 150 tons;

Thirty-two milreis in Brazil and ten dollars gold in Colombia for vessels of 150 to 200 tons;

Forty-eight milreis in Brazil and fifteen dollars gold in Colombia for vessels of 200 to 400 tons;

Sixty-four milreis in Brazil and twenty dollars gold in Colombia for vessels of 400 to 700 tons;

Eighty milreis in Brazil and twenty-five dollars gold in Colombia for vessels over 700 tons.

ARTICLE IX.

There are exempted from payment of the tonnage tax :

1. Warships and transports provided they do not carry articles for mercantile use;

2. Merchant ships displacing less than 30 tons;

3. Vessels which are cruising for official reasons or for purely scientific purposes or for pleasure; and

4. Vessels which put into a harbor because of force majeure, provided they sail with the same cargo in transit or this has been trans-shipped and continues to its destination.

ARTICLE X.

With the exception of the charges for handling and storage, under the conditions stated in Article IV, of the charges for stamped paper and for stamps mentioned in Article VI and of the tonnage tax which is treated of in Articles VII and VIII, trade by river as well as by land shall be burdened, neither directly nor indirectly, by any tax, no matter what its name or object may be.

ARTICLE XI.

No nationality shall be ascribed to merchandise. Consequently merchandise of foreign origin which shall be exported from Brazil for Colombia or from Colombia for Brazil shall pay in both countries the respective charges.

ARTICLE XII.

For the purpose of dispatching articles in transit for importation or exportation Brazil may maintain customs agents in the customs houses

or revenue posts which Colombia has established or shall establish in the regions to which the present treaty refers. In reciprocation, Colombia may maintain customs agents in the Brazilian customs houses of Pará or of Manáos and in the other customs posts which Brazil has established or shall establish in these regions.

ARTICLE XIII.

The vessels employed in the transit commerce may carry revenue agents of both countries, according to the requirements of the service, for the purpose of verifying the destination or the origin of the merchandise.

ARTICLE XIV.

Brazil and Colombia shall enjoy the additional rights and concessions which, in regard to the commerce and river navigation, each of them has recognized or conceded or shall recognize or concede to the other states which are or may be considered riparian as regards the Amazon or its branches.

ARTICLE XV.

The warships and transports of Brazil may navigate freely the Colombian waters of Yapurá and Caquetá and the warships and transports of Colombia may navigate freely the Brazilian waters of Yapurá and Caquetá and the Amazon and the other rivers which Brazil has opened or shall open to foreign navigation, the two states reserving the right to limit, by mutual agreement, the number of warships which may navigate the waters under their respective jurisdictions.

Warships and transports temporarily receiving or carrying articles for mercantile use, shall be subject to the revenue and police regulations of the country through which they pass.

ARTICLE XVI.

Any disagreement as to the meaning or execution of this treaty shall be adjusted by arbitration.

ARTICLE XVII.

With the exception of the stipulation of Article I regarding the free navigation of the rivers recognized as common property by the boundary treaty of April 24, 1907, a right which both countries have recognized in it as perpetual, the present treaty shall be binding for ten years counting from the day of exchange of ratifications and shall continue in force

until one of the high contracting parties denounces it or expresses the desire to modify it.

Whenever the question of modification comes up, the article or the articles to which the notification refers shall continue in force until the day upon which the new stipulations begin to be effective; and when one of the parties denounces the treaty in general, it shall cease to be operative as regards all its effects in twelve months counting from the day upon which the other party receives the notification.

ARTICLE XVIII.

The present treaty, after being approved by the legislative power of each of the two republics, shall be ratified by the respective governments, and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the city of Bogotá or in the city of Rio de Janeiro with the least possible delay.

In testimony whereof, the above named plenipotentiaries have signed the present instrument in two copies, each one in Portuguese and Spanish, and have sealed them with their seals in the city of Rio de Janeiro the twenty-first day of the month of August of nineteen hundred and eight.

(L. S.) RIO BRANCO.

DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE, ESTABLISHING AN OFFICE OF FOREIGN LEGISLATION AND INTERNATIONAL LAW.

July 21, 1910.

The President of the French Republic,

On the report of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice;

In view of Article 46 of the Law of Finance of December, 26, 1908, worded as follows:

The service of the collection of foreign laws at the Department of Justice is transformed into an office of foreign legislation and international law, under the Department of Justice, and is invested with the rights of an artificial person.

A regulation of public administration will determine the measures concerning the organization and functions of the said office.

In view of the opinion of the Department of Finance;

On the advice of the Council of State.

Decrees,

Art. 1. The office of foreign legislation and international law has for its object:

1. To centralize and put at the disposal of the public the legislative acts and documents of foreign countries, to preserve, maintain and increase the collection of works on international law and of comparative and foreign laws existing at the Department of Justice;

2. To continue the publication of the collection of the principal foreign codes and to undertake all translations and all work connected with comparative legislation or international law;

3. To furnish to public administrative bodies, judicial bodies, parliamentary commissions, information on treaties and foreign laws;

4. To furnish to all interested persons certified copies or translations of the texts of foreign laws, treaties and all other documents;

5. To publish memoirs or works on foreign legislation and international law;

6. To open relations with administrative bodies, associations and scientific institutions of France and other countries.

It may, moreover, be consulted on questions of foreign legislation or international law which the Keeper of the Seals deems proper to submit to it.

Art. 2. The collections and properties of the service of foreign laws existing at the Department of Justice are turned over to the office of foreign legislation and international law.

Art. 3. The office is directly under the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice.

It is placed under the scientific direction of a committee of foreign legislation and international law constituted in accordance with Article 4 hereunder.

It is administered, under the authority of the Keeper of Seals, by an administrative council composed in accordance with Article 7 hereunder. Art. 4. The committee of foreign legislation and international law is composed:

1. Of members appointed by the Keeper of the Seals and which shall not exceed twenty in number;

2. Of members in their own right who are:

The directors of the Ministry of Justice;

The director of administrative and technical affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The president and vice-president of the committee are appointed by the Keeper of Seals.

The chief of the office, whose employment is provided for by Article 15, discharges the duties of secretary of the committee, with consultative voice.

Art. 5.

The committee proposes to the Minister the translations of foreign laws and all other work to be undertaken. It selects the translators and other workers, controls and revises their work and superintends its publication.

It is called upon to give advice on regulations concerning the office, as well as measures intended to improve its organization and workings. Art. 6. The committee will meet as often as necessary and at least once each quarter.

Art. 7. The administrative council of the office of foreign legislation and international law consists of the president and vice-president of the committee on foreign legislation and international law, of two members of the committee designated by the Minister, and of the director or chief of the office of the Keeper of the Seals. This council is presided over by the president of the committee, and, in his absence, by the vicepresident.

Art. 8. The office is represented at law and in all acts of a civil nature by the president of the administrative council. This person is competent in all that concerns the property of the office, to institute or defend, without authorization of the administrative council, all possessory actions, to apply for injunctions and to take measures necessary to preserve or enjoy the property. In case of the absence or disability the president of the administrative council is replaced by the chief of office. Art. 9. The administrative council is consulted each year, in the preparation of the budget by the Ministry of Justice, as to the amount of money to be included in this budget for the expenses of the office.

On the month following the vote of the budget, it makes propositions for the employment of the income from the property of the office and gives its advice on the employment of the appropriation made by the Law of Finance to the Minister of Justice for the office.

Art. 10. The administrative council determines the management, acquisition and disposal of the property of the office and the expenses which must be met by means of the income from that property. It gives its advice on the subject of expenses to be charged to the appropriation mentioned in paragraph 2 of Article 9 which precedes.