§ 3. (1.) When a case does not come within the exclusive jurisdiction of a particular Court, the following provisions shall apply:

(2.) Upon application being made by both parties, the case shall be transferred to the Court of the other State named in the application.

(3.) If there is a Court of the same standing in the other State which would have been competent to deal with the case, and if proceedings had already been instituted at the time of the coming into force of this Agreement, either party may request that the case be transferred to such Court. Such request shall be complied with unless the Court specified in § 1 is also competent at that moment, and unless the other party objects to the transfer. If there are several

Courts in the other State having jurisdiction, the party making the application shall have the right to choose the Court, or, if both parties apply for a transfer, the defendant shall have this right.

$ 4. (1.) If the German Empire or the Prussian State is one of the parties to the suit, the authorities of the Czechoslovak Republic shall intervene in the proceedings so far as the claim advanced in the case has been transferred to or taken charge of by the Czechoslovak Republic, or may be so transferred or taken over after the conclusion of this Agreement.

(2.) If the Czechoslovak Republic or the German Empire or the Prussian State is the defendant and no Court exists which has exclusive jurisdiction over the case, proceedings shall be transferred to the competent Court in the district over which the State concerned in the case possesses general jurisdiction.

§ 5. (1.) Questions connected with the transfer of cases shall normally be decided without oral proceedings. A hearing shall be given to the parties before the decision is given.

(2.) In the case provided for in § 3, the application shall be made at latest in the first law term after the coming into force of this Agreement. Should a case be referred back to the Court of First Instance, such application may be submitted in the Courts of Second and Third Instance at any time before the close of the oral proceedings prior to the judgment.

(3.) No appeal may be made against the order for transfer. On the announcement or issue of this order, the case shall be regarded as transferred to the Court mentioned therein, and this order shall be binding on that Court. The consequences arising out of the institution of proceedings shall remain unaffected.

(4.) The costs of the proceedings in the Court in which the case was begun shall be reckoned as part of the subsequent costs.

(5.) No fees shall be charged in connection with the proceedings and judgment regarding the transfer of the case. This provision shall not apply in the case of an appeal which has been declared inadmissible or has been rejected.

§ 6. (1.) The provisions contained in §§ 1-5 shall also apply to proceedings instituted in the judicial district of Ratibor which, on the 4th February, 1920, were pending in the Supreme Court of Justice at Breslau or the Imperial Court at Leipzig.

(2.) Cases referred back shall be sent to the Courts mentioned in §§ 1-5. The provisions of the second sentence of 5, sub-paragraph (2), shall hold good in the case of applications to be submitted beforehand.

§ 7. (1.) If an appeal is made after the 4th February, 1920, against a judgment pronounced before that date in a lawsuit of the nature specified in paragraph 1, proceedings shall be taken and judgment given in that Court in the district in which the Court which pronounced the judgment appealed against was situated, at the date of the coming into force of this Agreement. The provisions of §§ 2-6 shall apply.

(2.) The same provisions shall also apply if, after the 4th February, 1920, appeal is made against a judgment previously pronounced.

§ 8. With regard to proceedings in respect of the transfer of an action to another Court or the lodging of an appeal or the institution of proceedings for restitution or nullity, the parties may be represented by any barrister duly recognised in a Czechoslovak or German Law Court.

§ 9. §§ 1-7 shall be applied wherever possible to debts and bankruptcy proceedings. In bankruptcy proceedings the bankrupt shall be regarded as the defendant within the meaning of the provisions referred to.

§ 10. Judgments, orders and decisions given before the 4th February, 1920, by the Hultschin District Court, or by any other Court of the Ratibor Circuit or any Court superior to the latter and which were in force before that date, or came into force later as a result of the failure or withdrawal of an appeal, shall be regarded as authoritative in both States and may be put into execution in both States without the necessity for any further order.

§ 11. Execution orders to which the conditions specified in paragraph 1 apply shall, so far as they relate to immovable property, be carried out by the Court of the State to which the district where the property is situated belongs and, with regard to other property, by the Court competent to order execution after the coming into force of this Agreement. In so far as the ordinary Court is competent to [CXIV]

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deal with matters relating to execution orders, the provisions of §§ 7 and 8 shall apply.

12. Time-limits which have not expired on the coming into force of this Agreement, or have not yet begun to run, shall not expire until at least thirty days after the date specified.

§ 13.—(1.) In all matters covered by §§ 1-12 the German and Czechoslovak Law Court shall render to each other the fullest possible measure of direct legal assistance. No costs for such legal assistance shall be payable by either party.

(2.) With regard to persons suing in forma pauperis, to the giving of security for costs and to the payment of sums into Court, the Courts of both countries shall treat the parties on the same footing as their own nationals in all matters specified in paragraph 1.

Criminal Cases.

II. § 1.-(1.) All criminal cases pending on the 4th February, 1920, in Courts of First Instance in the Ratibor district shall, when the accused is charged with a minor criminal offence, be transferred to the District Court in Hultschin, and when the accused is charged with a misdemeanour of felony to the General Court at Troppau, provided the accused is a national of the Czechoslovak Republic and has committed the offence within the new boundaries of that country, unless the accused is domiciled or, failing domicile, is normally resident in the German Empire. The fact that the offence was committed before the coming into force of the Treaty of Peace in territory ceded to the Czechoslovak Government by Germany shall not prevent the offender from being handed over by the German authorities.

(2.) Similarly, criminal cases which were pending on the 4th February, 1920, in the District Court in Hultschin shall be transferred to the Courts in Ratibor if, after the incorporation of the territory, the accused remained a national of the German Empire and the offence was committed in territory formerly belonging to that Empire, unless the accused has his domicile or, failing domicile, his usual residence in the Czechoslovak Republic. The provisions of paragraph 1, sub-paragraph (2), shall apply in such cases. If a prosecution is instituted against both Czechoslovaks and Germans, the case shall be divided in accordance with the above conditions.

§ 2. If judgment has been given in cases provided for under § 1 before the coming into force of this Agreement, the accused may lodge an appeal within the period of two weeks after the coming into force of the Agreement.

3. The provisions of § 1 shall apply to preliminary proceedings and enquiries.

4. The provisions of § 1 shall apply to such criminal appeals from the Ratibor legal district as were pending in a superior German Court on the 4th February, 1920.

§ 5. (1.) If sentences duly awarded by the Courts in Ratibor or Hultschin before the coming into force of this Agreement cannot be carried out owing to the fact that the persons sentenced reside in the other State and are at the same time nationals of that State, the authorities of the State in which such persons are resident shall assume responsibility for the execution of such sentences upon application being made by the authorities responsible for the execution of the sentence, provided that the offence for which sentence was passed is also punishable in accordance with the criminal law of that State. The authorities who are called upon to execute the sentence shall decide this point.

(2.) If the other State undertakes to execute a sentence it shall also be entitled to exercise the right to issue a pardon.

(3.) The other State shall not be liable for the cost of carrying out the sentence.

§ 6.-(1.) The execution of sentences on persons summarily convicted by the Lower Court at Hultschin or Ratibor, or by the Provincial Court at Ratibor, before the 4th February, 1920, shall be transferred to the Courts of the Czechoslovak Republic, if the condemned person is a national of that State and is either domiciled or habitually resides in the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic.

(2.) Under the same conditions, the execution of sentences on condemned persons who are nationals of the German Empire shall be transferred to the authorities of the latter.

7. The Czechoslovak and the German Public Prosecutor's offices and Courts shall afford each other direct legal assistance in all cases arising out of this Agreement except in so far as extradition is concerned. The nationals of the one State, however, shall not be surrendered to the other State for prosecution or punishment, nor shall witnesses or experts be compelled to appear before the authorities of the other State.

§ 8.-(1.) The authorities dealing with the registration of convictions at Ratibor shall, on receipt of a direct request from the authorities of the Czechoslovak Republic, supply them free of cost with any information contained in the criminal records of persons whose birthplace belongs to that portion of the Czechoslovak Republic which was formerly German, subject to the German regulations regarding the furnishing of such information. A photograph of the [CXIV]

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convicted person shall be sent with the information supplied, whenever possible.

(2.) Up to the 31st December, 1925, the information relating to such persons shall gradually be transferred from the criminal records at Ratibor to the Public Prosecutor's office at Troppau.

(3.) The obligation referred to in paragraph 1 shall lapse as from the 1st January, 1926.

Affairs relating to Voluntary Jurisdiction.

III.- 1.-(1.) Should any proceedings under voluntary jurisdiction not have been definitely concluded at the time of the coming into force of this Agreement, these proceedings shall be concluded by the Court which is dealing with the case, unless hereinafter otherwise provided. In such cases the Czechoslovak District Court at Hultschin shall take the place of the German Lower Court at Hultschin.

(2.) A Court dealing with a particular case shall refer it to a Court of the same standing in the other State, provided such Court has local jurisdiction to deal with the matter in consequence of the transfer of the territory.

(3.) All funds (being the property of orphans or persons under guardianship, &c.) which are in the hands of the Court as being involved in such cases, shall be transferred at the same time. The Court which is effecting the transfer of the property shall obtain the requisite consent of the financial authorities.

(4.) Should both a Czechoslovak and a German Court be competent to deal with a case, a transfer shall only take place if the person, on whom the competence of the Court depends, is at that time a national of the other State, or if one of the parties applies for a transfer and the consent of all the other parties is obtained. The provisions of Article I, § 5, shall be applied accordingly.

§ 2. (1.) The Court which hitherto has kept the landregisters shall immediately hand over all land-registers referring to real estate situated in the administrative district of the Court which, owing to the situation of such property. has now acquired jurisdiction over it. In cases where the transfer of a whole volume or separate pages of the landregister is not possible because certain estates situated in the district of the former Land Registration Court are entered in the same volume or page, the former Court shall hand over certified extracts relating to real estate situated outside its own district and shall cancel the existing entries relating thereto.

(2.) Details shall be settled by the Ministries of Justice (judicial administration).