791.003/126: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Persia (Philip)
44. (1) The Department is concerned because no reply has been received to its request telegraphed you May 17 (see Department’s telegram 42, 6 p.m., paragraph (3)) on the subject of personal status and family law jurisdiction, particularly in view of the commitment made in the Persian declaration on safeguards as handed the British Minister on May 10. A copy of this has just reached the Department from the Embassy at London.
(2) Paragraph number (12) of this Persian declaration is quoted in part below as follows:49
“Whereas Persian subjects enjoy in the British Empire most-favored-nation treatment in questions of personal status, it is understood that in matters of personal status, etc., and family law in general, it is agreed between Persia and Great Britain that as regards non-Moslem British nationals in Persia their national tribunals will alone have jurisdiction.”
(3) The Department is, in view of the above, at a loss to understand the Persian Government’s delay in coming to an understanding on this matter with you along the lines which the Department originally suggested on May 8 (see telegram 38, 7 p.m., paragraph (2)), since the pertinent features of the therein outlined procedure seem to have figured on May 10 in the arrangement agreed upon between Persia and Great Britain.
(4) As the Department has assumed that the Persian Government, in handing to the representatives of the interested powers in Persia the unilateral notes on safeguards, would make these identical in form and applicable to all foreigners in Persia, therefore the Department is not able to understand the discrepancy to be found between the description in your telegram (see 52, May 10, 11 a.m., paragraph (1), safeguard on personal status, etc.) and that quoted above from the note delivered May 10 to Sir Robert Clive.
The Department wishes as soon as possible to be enlightened telegraphically regarding the questions raised herein. In this connection you should keep in mind the statement made in the Department’s telegram 42, May 17, 6 p.m., paragraph (2).
- Quotation not paraphrased. This translation does not correspond exactly with text printed in Great Britain, Cmd. 3606, Persia No. 1 (1930).↩