Article XCIX

[The Act has been ratified by the signatory Powers, April 2, 1892.] A certified copy of this Protocol shall be forwarded to all the Powers interested.

Article C

The present General Act shall come into force in all the possessions of the contracting Powers on the sixtieth day after the date of the Protocol of Deposit provided for in the preceding Article.

Done at Brussels, the 2nd day of the month of July, 1890.

ANNEX TO ARTICLE XXXIX

License to Ply the Coasting Trade on the East Coast of Africa in conformity with Article XXXIX

The present license must be renewed on the...................

Rank of Official who has issued the Permit:

DECLARATION OF JULY 2, 1890

The Powers assembled in Conference at Brussels, who have ratified the General Act of Berlin of February 26, 1885, or who have acceded thereto,

After having drawn up and signed in concert, in the General Act of this day, a collection of measures intended to put an end to the Negro Slave Trade by land as well as by sea, and to improve the moral and material conditions of existence of the native races;

Taking into consideration that the execution of the provisions which they have adopted with this object imposes on some of them

who have possessions or protectorates in the conventional basin of the Congo obligations which absolutely demand new resources to meet them,

Have agreed to make the following Declaration :

The signatory or adhering Powers who have possessions or protectorates in the said conventional basin of the Congo are authorised, so far as they require any authority for the purpose, to establish therein duties upon imported goods, the scale of which shall not exceed a rate equivalent to 10 per cent. ad valorem at the port of entry, always excepting spirituous liquors, which are regulated by the provisions of Chapter VI. of the General Act of this day.

After the signature of the said General Act, negotiations shall be opened between the Powers who have ratified the General Act of Berlin or who have adhered to it, in order to draw up, within the maximum limit of 10 per cent. ad valorem, the conditions of the Customs system to be established in the conventional basin of the Congo.

Nevertheless it is understood

1. That no differential treatment or transit duty shall be established;

2. That in applying the Customs system which may be agreed upon, each Power will undertake to simplify formalities as much as possible, and to facilitate trade operations;

3. That the arrangement resulting from the proposed negotiations shall remain in force for fifteen years from the signature of the present Declaration.

At the expiration of this period, and failing a fresh agreement, the contracting Powers shall return to the conditions provided for by Article IV. of the General Act of Berlin, retaining the power of imposing duties up to a maximum of 10 per cent. upon goods imported into the conventional basin of the Congo.

The ratifications of the present Declaration shall be exchanged at the same time as those of the General Act of this day.

By Act of December 22, 1890, made at Brussels, Great Britain, Germany, and Italy, in accordance with the above Declaration, agreed to modify in the following manner, within the limits of the eastern zone of the conventional basin of the Congo, Article IV. of the General Act of the Berlin Conference of 1885 :

1. Great Britain, Germany, and Italy, in the territories under their influence situated in the eastern zone of the conventional basin of the Congo, and which are subject to Article IV. of the General Act of Berlin, shall have the right to levy duties on goods imported into such territories either by land or by water, in accordance with

the Customs regulations actually in force under the Treaties with Zanzibar, which provide for an import duty of 5 per cent. ad valorem.

'2. Arms and ammunition introduced in accordance with the special provisions of the General Act of Brussels may, however, be charged with an import duty not exceeding the rate of 10 per cent. ad valorem, provided that the Treaties containing contrary stipulations are modified, and that circumstances permit of it.

3. The import duty to be levied on alcohols shall be regulated in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VI. of the General Act of Brussels.

4. The following goods shall be admitted free of duty, viz. : agricultural machines and instruments, as well as all materials intended for the construction and maintenance of roads, tramways, and railways, and, generally speaking, all means of transport.

'5. The present Agreement shall come into force at the same time as the Acts signed at Brussels on July 2, 1890. It shall remain in force for a period of five years, and continue in operation for five more years, and so on for periods of five years, unless one or other of the three Powers demands its revision six months before the expiration of the quinquennial period.'

By Order in Council of Great Britain of May 9, 1892, the General Act is declared to be from April 2, 1892, an existing Slave Trade treaty within 36 and 37 Vict., c. 88.

It was resolved by the United States of America, as a part of the ratification, that the United States of America, having neither possessions nor protectorates in Africa, hereby disclaims any intention, in ratifying this Treaty, to indicate any interest whatsoever in the possessions or protectorates established or claimed on that continent by the other Powers, or any approval of the wisdom, expediency, or lawfulness thereof, and does not join in any expressions in the said General Act which might be construed as such a declaration or acknowledgment.'

Turkey interprets Article XXXIV. of the General Act in the sense that the inscriptions prescribed by that Article shall be made, in the case of Ottoman vessels, in Turkish characters and figures. Nevertheless it does not object to a translation in Latin characters being added to inscriptions in Turkish characters.

The President of the Republic of France, in his ratification of the General Act, has provisionally reserved, for an ulterior understanding, Articles XXI., XXII., and XXIII., and Articles XLII. to LXI.

It is understood that the Powers who have ratified the General Act in its entirety recognise that they are reciprocally bound to each other in regard to all of its Articles.

It is likewise understood that such Powers are only bound to the Power who has ratified partially, in the measure of the obligations undertaken by the latter Power.

Finally, it is well understood that, in regard to the Power who has ratified partially the matters to which Articles XLII. to LXI. relate shall continue, until an ulterior understanding be arrived at, to be governed by the stipulations and arrangements now in force.

RETURN SHOWING THE EARLIEST AGE AT WHICH MARRIAGE CAN BE LEGALLY SOLEMNISED IN EACH OF THE STATES OF EUROPE

[The following is abstracted from the information afforded by her Majesty's representatives abroad to the House of Commons in 1874. It is not improbable that some alterations may have occurred in the respective laws since that date.]

AUSTRIA

Persons who have not arrived at the age of puberty, viz. who have not completed their fourteenth year, are incapable of contracting a valid marriage. (Articles XXI. and XLVIII. of the Civil Code.) Minors who have not completed their twenty-fourth year, and majors who, for whatever reason, cannot contract of their own accord a valid obligation (as, for example, persons declared to be prodigals, &c.), cannot contract a marriage without the consent of their legitimate father, of their guardian, or trustee-in short, of the person called upon to exercise paternal authority over them. In default of a father, if he is dead or incapable of exercising parental authority, the law requires, besides the declaration of the guardian or trustee, the consent of the judicial authority whose province it is to watch over the interests of minors. Minors, being illegitimate, require, to establish the validity of a marriage, besides the consent of their guardian, the approval of the judicial authority. When a minor, who is a foreigner, wishes to marry in Austria, and is unable to produce the necessary consent of his father, guardian, or competent authority of his own country, the judicial authority of his domicile names a special trustee to examine into the circumstances of the minor, and to give or refuse accordingly his consent to the marriage. (Articles XXI., XLIX., L., and LI. of the Civil Code.) When the legitimate father, guardian, or trustee refuses his consent to the marriage of a minor, or of a female placed under guardianship, these latter can appeal to the decision of the competent judge. The judge examines the motives of the refusal, and subsequently confirms the refusal, or

authorises the marriage, according as he considers the motives legitimate or not. The law defines as legitimate motives for refusal the want of adequate means, bad moral character, proved or notorious, contagious diseases, and infirmities inconsistent with the objects of marriage. (Articles LII., LIII. of the Civil Code.) The military laws comprise some restrictions on the power of contracting marriage in the case of persons forming part of the active army. The transgression of these involves the nullity of the marriage. In some provinces the marriage of certain classes of persons depends furthermore upon the consent of the commune to which such persons belong. But this purely administrative restriction does not derogate from the personal power, and does not involve the nullity of the marriage in case of transgression. It only entails a disciplinary fine upon the public functionary who may have celebrated the marriage without the proper authorisation.

BELGIUM

A man before the age of eighteen years complete, and a woman before the age of fifteen years complete, cannot contract marriage in Belgium. (Article CXLIV. of the Civil Code.) Nevertheless it is lawful for the King to grant dispensations in the matter of age for grave reasons. (Article XIV. of the same Code.) The law of the 20th Prairial, year 11 (June 9, 1803), prescribes the formalities necessary for parties to obtain such dispensations.

Decree respecting the Grant of Dispensations relative to Marriage of the 20th Prairial, Year 11 (June 9, 1803)

See Articles CXLIV., CLVII., and CLXIII. of the First Book of the Civil Code.

ARTICLE I-Dispensations to marry before the age of eighteen years complete for men, and fifteen years complete for women, and dispensations to marry within the prohibited degrees, by Article CLXIII. of the First Book of the Civil Code, shall be granted by the Government on the report of the Grand Judge.

ARTICLE II. The commissary of the Government attached to the Tribunal of First Instance of the arrondissement in which the petitioners propose to celebrate the marriage, when the question is one of a dispensation for the prohibited degrees, or the arrondissement in which the petitioner is domiciled, when the question is one of a dispensation in the matter of age, shall affix his opinion at the foot of the petition praying for such dispensation, and it shall then be brought before the Grand Judge.

ARTICLE III.-Dispensations for the second publication of banns, as mentioned in Article CLXIX. of the same Book of the Civil Code,