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THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

though  of  nominally  lower  rank  than  the  President  of  the
Mixed  Court,  is  yet  an  Imperial  representative,  qualified  to
administer  the  criminal  law  of  China.  In  criminal  cases  o
lesser  magnitude  the  judgment  is  rendered  by  the  President
of  the  Court,  but  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  foreign
assessor  sitting  with  him.  This  course  is  followed  also  in
police  cases  for  contravention  of  municipal  regulations  ;  but
as  it  is  not  required  that  these  regulations  should  have  the
prior  approval  of  the  Chinese  authorities,  and  as  Occidenta
and  Oriental  ideas  are  not  always  in  harmony  in  such
matters  as  sanitation,  nuisances,  control  of  traffic,  incidence
of  license  fees,  etc.,  there  is  here  an  opening  for  a  judicia
review  of  alien  legislation  which  is  not  always  lost,  and  1
happens  occasionally  that  the  opinions  of  the  judge  and  the

assessor  do  not  agree.  I
Civil  cases  in  China  are  commonly  settled  by  guil
action,  and  are  seldom  brought  before  the  official  tribunals,
but  the  relative  uniformity  of  justice  secured  by  foreign
supervision  has  caused  a  greater  resort  to  the  Shanghai
Mixed  Court.  When  the  plaintiff  is  a  foreigner,  the  ordinary
course  is  followed,  and  the  approval  of  the  assessor  is  held
necessary  to  the  judgment  of  the  court.  Not  infrequently
it  happens  that  a  case  with  plaintiff  and  defendant  both
Chinese  becomes  a  mixed  case  by  the  interjection  of  u
foreigner  into  the  plaintiff’s  claim  ;  the  Chinese  authorities
have  always  tried  to  distinguish  these  pseudo  claims,  but
it  is  generally  held  that  on  them  lies  the  onus  of  proof  of
non-interest,  not  an  easy  thing  to  prove.  These  cases  then
generally  follow  the  usual  course,  unless  it  can  be  definitely
proved  that  the  foreign  interest  was  introduced  at  the
eleventh  hour  in  order  to  divert  the  course  of  justice.
Suits  which  are  admittedly  between  Chinese  on  both
sides  are  a  bone  of  contention.  One  side  maintains  that,
eing  purely  Chinese,  they  are  no  concern  of  the  foreign
powers,  and  are  therefore  not  subject  to  the  decision  of  the
oreign  assessor  ;  the  other  side  holds  that  every  judicial
question  arising  within  the  “  area  reserved  for  foreign  resience
  and  trade  ”  concerns  the  foreign  powers,  and  that  the