894.043/9–949
The Director of the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs (Allison) to Mr. Robert R. West, Deputy to the Under Secretary of the Army
Dear Mr. West: Reference is made to your letter of June 27, 1949 in which you point out that the Department of the Army is in complete agreement with General MacArthur’s recommendation that the Far Eastern Commission policy decision of August 15, 1946, Exercise of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction over Nationals of Members of the United Nations, be amended so that the Japanese could exercise concurrent criminal jurisdiction over United Nations nationals with the exception of official occupation personnel and in which you furthermore request that the Department of State introduce an appropriate proposal on this matter into the Far Eastern Commission.
The Department of State concurs in principle with the recommendation of the Department of the Army, but on the basis of present information questions the advisability of establishing concurrent jurisdiction on the part of Japanese and occupation courts over non-excepted classes of United Nations nationals. The Department of State is of the view that overlapping jurisdiction of this type might lead to uncertainties in procedure and a hesitancy on the part of the Japanese Government to assume fully its responsibilities. Failure to establish such concurrent jurisdiction would not preclude SCAP from retaining authority over the extent to which the Japanese Government might exercise criminal jurisdiction over United Nations nationals. The Department has prepared a preliminary proposal to be submitted to the FEC, if concurred in by the Department of the Army and SCAP, which provides that assumption of responsibility by the Japanese courts would be subject to the progressive relaxation of control [Page 880] by SCAP in cases where these courts have not previously exercised such jurisdiction.
The Department also concurs in the proposal that paragraph 2 should be accordingly modified to permit the Japanese to take into custody those United Nations nationals over whom they may exercise criminal jurisdiction, subject to the control of the occupation authorities. In view of the awkwardness involved in amending the several paragraphs of the policy decision, the attached preliminary proposal1 has been drafted in such a form that it would supersede the present policy decision on the Exercise of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction over Nationals of Members of the United Nations.
In this connection, the Department has redrafted the provisions of the present policy decision which concern the jurisdiction of Japanese courts in civil matters as follows:
“The jurisdiction of the Japanese courts in civil matters shall extend to civil actions in which United Nations Nationals are parties plaintiff or defendant, except that the Japanese courts shall exercise no jurisdiction in actions brought against occupation force personnel as defined in paragraph 1a–d above.”
Upon receiving the concurrence of SCAP and the Department of the Army, the Department of State intends to approach informally the UK and France through the diplomatic channel in order to solicit their views on this matter before submitting the proposal to the Far Eastern Commission.
The Department of State therefore requests the concurrence of the Department of the Army in the attached proposal.
Sincerely yours,
- Not printed.↩