United States Court for China

The United States Court for China was a United States district court that had extraterritorial jurisdiction over U.S. citizens in China. It existed from 1906 to 1943 and had jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, with appeals taken to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

Extraterritorial jurisdiction in China was first granted to the United States by the Treaty of Wanghia upon ratification in 1845, followed by the Treaty of Tientsin ratified in 1860.

Under the treaties, cases against US citizens were tried in US consular courts, while cases against Chinese nationals were tried in Chinese courts. Consuls had jurisdiction in the following matters:

The commissioner had jurisdiction to hear all cases, and could prescribe rules of civil and criminal procedure for the consuls to follow.

The Court was established in 1906 and located in the Shanghai International Settlement, with additional sessions held at least annually in the Chinese cities of Canton, Tientsin, and Hankow. It was similar in structure to the British Supreme Court for China and Corea that had been established in Shanghai in 1865. The Court had only one judge, and those on trial sometimes had to wait months for proceedings. Appeals were allowed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The U.S. consular courts in China retained limited jurisdiction, including civil cases where property involved in the controversy did not exceed $500 and criminal cases where the punishment did not exceed $100 in fines or 60 days' imprisonment. The Court exercised appellate jurisdiction over them, as well as over similar Consular Courts in Korea.

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