881.602/24
The Acting Secretary of State to the Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Tangier (Blake)
Sir: Receipt is acknowledged of your despatch No. 477 of March 3, 1930, relating to the possibility of waiver of capitulatory rights in Morocco by an American concern.
The United States has acquired its capitulatory rights in Morocco, as well as in certain other countries, through treaty, custom and usage. The rights thus obtained were granted to the United States as a sovereign nation and inure to the benefit of private persons or concerns only by reason of their American nationality. The Secretary of State has stated, notably in a telegraphic instruction last year to the American Minister in Cairo that “under the capitulatory regime the United States only can waive or derogate rights possessed thereunder by American citizens”.
It is therefore considered that an American company has no authority to waive any of the capitulatory rights enjoyed by the United States in Morocco by contract or otherwise.
I am [etc.]