This law forbids, under penalty of forfeiture, the selling or hypothecating of concessions to any foreign state. Any shares, bonds, or obligations purchased by a foreign state shall be forfeited to the Mexican Government. The property of railroads in Mexico shall be subject to the civil code of the Federal District, except as provided by special law.

The law of December 25, 1877, and that of December 16, 1881, excepting the article relating to the acquirement of telegraph and telephone lines by the Government, are repealed.

The full text of the new railroad law is filed for reference in the Bureau of Foreign Commerce.

BIDS FOR RAILS IN BRAZIL.

Minister Bryan sends from Petropolis, June 16, 1899, a newspaper extract announcing the opening of bids for furnishing rails and accessories to the Central Railway of Brazil. The extract, translated, reads:

On the 12th day of August, 1899, at 12 o'clock, proposals will be received for furnishing the following:

40,000 meters (43,600 yards) of steel rails, Type C.

8,000 plates for joining rails (4,000 square bores and 4,000 round bores). 5,000 screws for binding.

00,000 chairs.

3 crossings complete of.

55 crossings of .

24 crossings of.

55 pairs of switches with working apparatus.

20,000 joining plates for Rail B (10,000 square bores and 10,000 round bores). Bids must state the eligibility of the manufacturer, term of delivery, and the prices. Only bids from well-known firms of undoubted standing will be considered. The designs, specifications, and terms of the contract are kept in the central office, to be examined by competitors. Persons wishing to compete must present themselves at this office at the hour above indicated, bringing sealed bids, dated and signed, with their place of residence indicated, and in the deed of delivery must be shown the receipt of the deposit of 2,000 milreis ($1,080) in the treasury of the railway, as a guaranty of good faith.

The bidder whose offer is accepted must sign the contract within eight days, counting from the date of communication of the same. In event, however, of refusal or failure, the deposit above referred to will revert to the railway.

The bids will be opened and read in the presence of the parties interested.

FOREIGN JUDGMENTS IN BRAZIL.

Foreign laws have no extraterritorial force except by comity, and the extent to which a state shall permit its own jurisprudence and institutions to yield to those of another is a matter to be decided by each country in the exercise of its sound discretion. Generally, force and effect will be given by states to the laws of other states when they are applicable, unless they affect injuriously its own citizens, violate its express enactments, or are contra bonos mores. Νο state, nevertheless, carries its sense of international courtesy to the extent of permitting criminal matters to be affected thereby. Rules of comity apply only to civil judgments and not to criminal decisions. Out of the confusion of judicial decisions on the effect of foreign judgments, this much seems to be settled everywhere: Judgments and decrees of foreign courts relating to immovable property within. their jurisdiction are held to be binding, and the rule is the same as to movables actually within their jurisdiction (Story, Conflict of Laws, sec. 592; 1 Greenleaf on Evidence, sec. 541; Bouvier's Law Dictionary). And Story and Greenleaf support the statement of

Bouvier that

Judgments in personam, regular on their face, which are sought to be enforced in another country, are conclusive evidence, subject to a reexamination in the courts where the new action is brought only for irregularity, fraud, or lack of jurisdiction as to the cause or parties.

The following, in translation, are the provisions of the law of Brazil relating to foreign judgments and decrees, taken from the Compilation of Federal Laws, approved November 5, 1898, decree No. 3084:

CHAPTER 2.-CONFIRMATION OF FOREIGN JUDGMENTS.

ARTICLE 7. Judgments rendered by foreign courts shall be executed after previous confirmation by the federal supreme court upon hearing the parties and the attorneygeneral of the Republic.

ART. 8. Judgments of foreign tribunals, civil or commercial, may be confirmed only after the following requirements shall be complied with:

(1) They shall have the necessary formal prerequisites to execution prescribed in their respective states.

(2) They shall have been pronounced by a court of competent jurisdiction, the parties having been duly summoned or their failure to appear having been legally verified, according to the provisions of local law.

(3) The proceedings must have been carried to judgment.

(4) Such decrees shall be duly authenticated by the Brazilian consul. (5) The decrees shall be accompanied by translations into the vernacular. ART. 9. Notwithstanding the said judgments conform to the requirements of the preceding section, they shall not be confirmed in case they embody decisions in derogation of public order or contravening the domestic public law of the Union.

ART. 10. In proceedings confirmatory of foreign judgments, the following regulations must be observed:

(1) The public prosecutor shall give notice to the parties against whom execution is sought, to submit their defense within eight days from the date of such notice, the demandant being allowed an equal period to reply.

(2) The following constitute valid defenses:

(a) Any doubt respecting the authenticity of the documents or the wisdom of the decision.

(b) Absence of any of the prerequisites enumerated in articles 8 and 9.

In all cases, the production of any proofs touching the grounds on which the adjudged suit was decided is admissible.

(3) After the answer is filed, or at the expiration of the time for filing the same, the attorney-general of the Republic shall take the matter up, and the papers shall be submitted, with his opinion, to the public prosecutor and successively to two revisers, according to the forms prescribed in appeals.

(4) If the judgment of the foreign court is confirmed, an instruction shall issue to the judge of the district to which the case belongs, authorizing execution of the judgment.

(5) In case the execution of a foreign judgment shall be sought through diplomatic channels and the demandant shall not appear, the court will name a curator to represent his cause, who shall take in his name all necessary steps in the proceedings.

The same proceedings shall take place with respect to the person proceeded against, in case he shall not appear, or shall absent himself from the jurisdiction, or if he is a minor or interdicted.

ART. 11. Proceedings upon executions and the various methods and incidents of the same shall be regulated by the laws, forms, and practices that are in force in the Republic for the execution of domestic decrees of the same nature.

The interpretation of the decree and the effect of the same shall be determined by the law of the country where such decree was obtained.

ART. 12. Within the period of six days allowed for seizure in personal actions and ten days in real actions, the defendant shall have the right to submit defenses that do not involve the nullity or infringement of the final judgment.

ART. 13. When judgment shall be rendered in derogation of the execution of the decree, the papers, documents, and other proofs on which the same was founded may be offered in actions which for the same object may be tried before the courts of the Republic, and the same shall be accepted for their legal value.

ART. 14. The following foreign decrees may be executed without the formality of confirmation by Brazilian courts:

(a) Foreign decrees of partition.

(b) Foreign decrees that are merely declaratory, such as those affecting personal

status.

(c) Arbitral decrees confirmed by foreign courts.

ART. 15. Foreign decrees of bankruptcy in the case of a merchant domiciled here, being a Brazilian citizen, can not be executed in Brazil.

ART. 16. Foreign decrees which declare bankrupt merchants having their domicile in the country where such decrees are pronounced shall take effect in this Republic after their confirmation, except in the following cases:

(1) Independent of confirmation, and upon exhibiting the decree and order in proper form, naming the persons interested in the property, these persons can demand proceedings to preserve their rights therein, collect debts, effect settlements (if they have powers for this purpose), and institute suits, without the necessity of giving security for the costs.

(2) All acts involving the execution of decrees, such as the collection of goods and their sale at auction, may be undertaken only after the decree shall have been made executory by confirmation, upon the order of a Brazilian judge, his action being regulated by the laws of his country.

(3) Notwithstanding that the foreign decree of bankruptcy shall have been declared executory, the creditors domiciled in the Republic who may have mortgages on property situated here are not inhibited from demanding their loans and holding the properties.

(4) Specialty creditors domiciled in the Republic who have judgments against the bankrupts at the date of the confirmation shall be empowered to proceed to final process and to take out execution on the properties of the bankrupt situated in the Republic.

ART. 17. A foreign decree of bankruptcy affecting a merchant who has two establishments, one in the country of his domicile and another distinct and separate in the Republic, after confirmation, shall not comprehend in its effects the establishment existing in the Republic.

ART. 18. Agreements and other proceedings taken to prevent or delay declarations of bankruptcy confirmed by foreign courts remain subject to confirmation in accordance with the terms of the preceding articles, and shall be obligatory on creditors resident in Brazil only when they shall have had notice to take part in the proceedings.

ART. 19. In case there shall be a treaty or convention regulating the execution of foreign decrees, the provisions of the same shall be observed.

ART. 20. Letters rogatory emanating from foreign authorities do not require confirmation, and they shall be carried out after the exequatur of the Federal Government shall be obtained, their due execution pertaining exclusively to the district judge of the State where the proceedings sought are to be executed.

All favor shown foreign judgments is practically nullified by the provisions of section 10, which provides that the wisdom of the judgment may be inquired into, and that the grounds of the decision of the foreign court may be reviewed in all cases by the defense here; so that judgments are capable of execution here only after being subject to a reexamination, in the nature of a new trial; and the local court may pass in review the facts of any case, and decide as to whether the foreign judgment was pronounced on good ground

or not.

There exist no treaty regulations respecting the effect to be given foreign judgments and decrees of the United States in the courts of Brazil and vice versa.

SANTOS, April 27, 1899.

FRANK D. HILL,
Consul.

JUDICIAL REFORMS IN ARGENTINA.

Having had unpleasant experience in courts of justice in claims. for collection for American citizens, I am glad to report that on yesterday the long-expected bills embodying judicial reforms were formally laid before the Chamber.

The President proposes to maintain the organization of the supreme court as defined by the law of October, 1862, modifying the status of the attorney-general, who will cease to be a member of the court and be simply a representative of the ministry. Its jurisdiction as a court of appeals is to apply as follows: In validity of national or provincial government action; in decrees of nullity against sentences of the superior court (to be created); in naval and maritime cases, for amounts not exceeding $5,000 or not provided for by the commercial code; in civil and commercial actions for a like amount, provided always that the action does not arise from the circumstance of the litigants being one an Argentine and the other a foreigner, or living in different provinces; in sentences pronounced in ordinary cases of summary jurisdiction for more than $5,000, when there is no appeal in the ordinary course; in sentences in cases of sedition, rebellion, treason, or attempt against the life of the President, the ministers, or members of Congress.

In this way, the supreme court has a higher jurisdiction and is relieved of cases of purely private interest, which on appeal will go to the superior court, a new tribunal to hear appealed cases other than those reserved for the supreme court.

In actions for less than $1,000, there will be no appeal from the sentence of the federal judges.

The chambers of appeal will be one for civil and one for criminal cases, the former consisting of seven and the latter of five members. The bill also provides for special tribunals for the trial of causes for amounts not exceeding $4,000.

The office of justice of the peace is to be retained, those holding it not being necessarily lawyers, but "good men," who will act according to equity, etc.

For lesser cases, another chamber in the civil chamber is to be formed, composed of five members, to consider appeals from the lower courts.

Criminal procedure is to be radically modified. Five judges of instruction and sentence will be appointed and will together definitely pronounce sentence.

A jury of impeachment is to be formed for the removal of magis