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British Supreme Court for China

His Britannic Majesty's Supreme Court for China
Restored British Supreme Court for China Building in Shanghai.jpg
British Supreme Court for China Building, Shanghai
Established 1865
Dissolved 1943
Country China (1865-1943)
Japan (1865-1899)
Korea (1884-1910)
Location No. 33, The Bund
Shanghai International Settlement
Authorized by British extraterritorial jurisdiction
Decisions are appealed to Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The British Supreme Court for China (originally the British Supreme Court for China and Japan) was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles of extraterritoriality.

The court also heard appeals from consular courts in China, Japan and Korea and from the British Court for Japan which was established in 1879.

Britain had acquired extraterritorial rights in China under the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The United States obtained further extraterritorial rights under the Treaty of Wanghsia, which Britain was able to take advantage of under the Most Favoured Nation provision in a Supplemental Agreement to the Treaty of Nanking. Subsequently, under the Treaty of Tientsin, these rights were provided for directly in a Sino-British Treaty. In 1858, Britain obtained extraterritorial rights in Japan under the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce.

The Treaty of Tientsin specified how such jurisdiction was to be governed:

Jurisdiction in the first instance, as well as in matters involving British defendants, was vested in the British consular courts, while in the Shanghai International Settlement matters relating to criminal acts and debt enforcement involving Chinese defendants were vested in a "Mixed Court" (Yangjingbang lishi gongxie, later known as 会审公廨; Huìshěn gōng xiè). Matters relating to complaints were not considered to be judicial.


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