and the Sultan of Muscat that the Tribunal should come to the following CONCLUSIONS. 1. No subject of the Sultan of Muscat acquires any right to the status of a French protégé under the Treaty of 1844 by the fact that he is the owner, captain, or a member of the crew of a native vessel which has, by whatever means, obtained French papers or flag. 2. By her adhesion to the XXXIInd Article of the Brussels Act of 1890, France is under an international obligation not to grant French flags or papers to any native vessel unless its owner, at the time of grant, is, (a) a French citizen, or is (b) a French protégé by reason of his being a subject of a State under French protection.) 3. France is equally debarred by the Declaration of 1862 from withdrawing any subject of the Sultan of Muscat from the jurisdiction of the Sultan by the grant of French flags or papers, and the practice which prevailed up to June 1900 of making such grants trenches on the independence of the Sultan. 4. No subject of the Sultan, by accepting French papers or flags, acquires any immunity from the Sultan's jurisdiction in the territories or territorial waters of Oman either for himself or for the crew of any ship commanded or owned by him or for any member of his family or for any of his employés. 5. On the death of the owner of a vessel in respect of which a French titre de navigation has been granted, no right accrues to his heirs, as such, to treat the vessel as qualified to fly the French flag. The question in each case is one of personal status. 6. A titre empowering the flying of the French flag must be granted in respect of a particular vessel, and cannot be used by the holder in respect of any other. 7. France should, with all reasonable dispatch, erase from her marine registers all native vessels owned by subjects of the Sultan of Muscat, and, in co-operation with the Sultan, should take steps to obtain the surrender of all French flags and papers now held by any such subjects. 8. In all cases in which France still claims as subject or protégé any owner or captain or sailor of an Omani native vessel, she should, with all reasonable dispatch, furnish to the Sultan any proofs on which she claims that such owner or captain or sailor is not a subject of the Sultan, but is a subject or protégé of France. |