concise terms, and without repetition, the facts constituting the grounds of the claim and relied on as entitling the claimant to relief under the convention; but the commission, for cause shown, may extend the time for the filing of such petition.

"III. If the claim be on account of alleged loss or damage as to a number of articles, kinds, or items of property, the amount of loss or damage on account of each, exclusive of interest, must be stated; and in all cases claims for interest must be separately specified, with the rate demanded and time covered. If the claim, or any part thereof, is alleged to have arisen from acts upon the high seas, the names of the vessels concerned, the part taken by each, with the names of the commanding officers, and in the service of what governments respectively engaged, with proper dates and localities, must be stated.

"IV. If any transfer of a claim, or any part thereof, has occurred, the petition must state how, when, by what means, for what consideration, and to and by whom the same has been made.

"V. The petition must also state whether any claimant, directly or indirectly, or any other person heretofore entitled or claiming to be entitled to the claim, or any part thereof, ever received any, and if so what sum of money for or on account of such claim or part thereof, and when and from whom the same was received, and whether the claim, or any part thereof, was ever presented to any tribunal other than to the former mixed commission, and if so what disposition was made thereof by such tribunal. "VI. Where the claim is for the property taken, lost, or injured, for which any voucher, receipt, memorandum, or other writing was given, a copy thereof must be attached to the petition, or reason assigned for not doing so; if not attached, the names of the parties to it and its substance must be given.

"VII. The petition must conclude with a distinct statement of the amount due the claimant for each item of loss or damage and the interest claimed thereon, the aggregate amount claimed, the sum paid thereon if any, and the balance for which judgment is asked.

"VIII. The petition shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of the claimant, or by one of the several claimants, or, if a corporation or jointstock company, by a principal officer thereof, before some officer authorized by the laws of the place to administer oaths; or, in case of the absence from the United States of such claimant or officer, the same may be verified by a duly authorized agent or attorney.

"IX. A petition may be amended at any time before final hearing upon leave granted by the commission.

"X. It shall not be necessary for the United States of Venezuela in any case to deny the allegations of the petition or the validity of any claim. But a general denial thereof shall be entered of record by the secretary, as of course, and thereby all the material allegations of the petition shal be considered as put in issue, and the claimant shall be required to establish them by legal and sufficient evidence. An answer to a petition may be filed, in which case such order will be made respecting further pleadings in the case as may be deemed proper. A demurrer general or special may be interposed to any petition or answer.

"XI. No evidence or information in the nature thereof will be received, except such as shall be furnished by or through the respective govern

ments.

"XII. Additional testimony may be taken in the form of deposition. The party desiring to take it shall give ten days' notice thereof, stating particularly the place and time of taking the same, the names and residences of the witnesses intended to be examined, and the subject of the examination. The adverse party may appear and cross-examine. After the deposition has been completed pursuant to such notice the adverse party may take the testimony of other witnesses in that vicinity, giving twentyfour hours' notice thereof to the opposing party, his attorney or agent, with a list of the witnesses proposed to be examined. And the same officer shall take the testimony of such witnesses as in continuation of such deposition. Each witness shall state whether he is concerned in the claim in controversy, and if so how, and whether he is related in business or otherwise to the claimant.

"Any officer authorized to administer oaths by the law of the place may take such deposition. He shall first swear (or affirm) the witness to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth relative to the cause in which he is about to testify. He shall then write the questions desired, following each with the answer of the witness thereto, giving in every instance the exact words of the latter. If the attorney or agent of either party make any suggestion to the witness under examination as to his answer, the officer shall note the suggestion in the deposition. As soon as completed the witness shall subscribe his deposition and write his name on the margin of each sheet containing any part of it.

"The officer shall give the style of the case in the caption of the deposition and note the time and place of taking the same, together with the names of the attorneys or agents appearing for the several parties. At the conclusion of the deposition he shall certify over his official signature and seal (if he have one) that the witnesses were duly sworn (or affirmed) as required in this rule before being examined; that he wrote the questions and the answers which they severally gave thereto; saw them sign the deposition, and that it was taken at the time and place specified in the caption. When the deposition shall have been completed and authenticated as aforesaid he shall forthwith inclose the same in an envelope or packet, on which, after being duly sealed, he shall indorse the title of the case and the names of the witnesses examined, and, having addressed the same to the commission at Washington, D. C., deposit it in the proper post-office duly stamped. When received by the commission it may be opened by the secretary at the request of either party.

“XIII. The commission may at any time specially authorize testimony to be taken upon written interrogatories or otherwise, and may also, on motion or of its own accord, order any claimant or witness to appear personally before it for examination or cross-examination. Leading questions must not be put to a witness by the party calling him, and the officer who takes a deposition, while noting any objection of counsel to any question or answer, shall not pass upon the same, but shall record the question or answer as if unobjected to.

"XIV. On motion, any testimony or matter that is improper, irrelevant, immaterial, or scandalous shall be stricken from the record.

"XV. The rules of evidence as to the competency, relevancy, and effect of the same shall be determined by the commission with reference to the

convention under which it is created, the laws of the two nations, the public law, and these rules.

"XVI. When an original paper on file in the archives of either government can not conveniently be withdrawn a duly certified copy may be received in evidence in lieu thereof.

"XVII. The docket will be called on the first Monday of October 1889, and the cases taken up for consideration in their order. If a case be not ready for hearing when called, it will be passed to the heel of the docket, unless, for cause shown, other disposition be made thereof. Like calls and disposition of cases will be made at stated times.

"The order and mode of procedure which obtain in courts of justice of both countries will be observed in proceedings before the commission so far as practicable and consistent with the convention and these rules.

"XVIII. The secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings of the commission in a book provided for the purpose for each day of its session, which shall be read at its next meeting, and if no objection be made, or when corrected if correction be needed, it shall be approved and subscribed by the chairman of the commission and countersubscribed by the secretary. "He shall keep a notice book, in which entries may be made by the counsel for either government, and when made shall be notice to the opposing counsel and all concerned.

"He shall provide a book of printed forms, under the direction of the commission, in which shall be recorded its several awards or decisions signed by the commissioners concurring therein.

"He shall be the custodian of the papers, documents, and books of the commission, under its direction, and shall keep the same safe and in methodical order.

"Upon each paper received by the commission he shall indorse the date of receipt and enter a minute thereof in the docket in the proper case, and he shall make brief memoranda in such docket under the proper case of all orders of the commission, with appropriate dates respecting such case. While affording every reasonable opportunity and facility to parties and their counsel to inspect and make extracts from papers and records, he shall permit none to be withdrawn from the files of the commission or taken from its office, except by its direction duly entered of record.

"XIX. The docket, minutes of proceedings, and record of awards or decisions shall be kept in duplicate, both in English and Spanish, one of which shall be delivered to each government at the close of the commission."

October 21, 1889, Little, commissioner, for the commission, delivered the following opinion on an application for a modification of the foregoing rules:

"1. Several suggestions have been urged, arguendo, upon our attention, by counsel representing various claimants, touching the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the commission under the convention, with a view to a modification of the rules hertofore promulgated, to conform to the suggestions, should the latter be concurred in.

"It is urged that the present commission was created to review the awards of the former one, and not to consider and pass upon claims submitted as res nova, and that certain presumptions favorable to former

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awardees result. Other considerations, involving a construction of the treaty in some particulars, are presented.

"The propositions so urged are not, in our opinion, proper subjectmatter for rules of procedure. We have not, therefore, deemed it necessary to enter upon their examination with a view of reaching a conclusion as to their soundness. They may call for solution in the several cases to be heard but not generally when no claim in particular is under consideration. The questions presented may affect substantial private interests, and the parties concerned may have the right to be heard as to them. They can not, therefore, be settled by general rules.

“Obviously, we would not be warranted in carrying into the rules anything that might operate to forestall or preclude a party from urging whatever may seem to him, according to the treaty, proper matter for consideration, when his claim or contention is under hearing. Should he then go beyond the limits of proper inquiry, or misconceive the jurisdiction of the commission, correction can be made, if necessary.

"2. It is also urged that the commission is bound to consider and determine every claim submitted to it under the treaty, whether represented or not, and whether any petition has been filed as to it, or not.

"We do not care, in advance, to express an opinion on this point. It may be observed, however, that there is nothing to the contrary expressed in the rules. It may also be remarked that nobody is bound to do an impossible thing.

"Claimants would do well to bear in mind that the time for the transaction of the business committed to the commission is limited, and that their assistance is needed to render certain its completion within that time. We think the commission has the authority, ex necessitate, to make and enforce such reasonable rules as will insure every claimant an opportunity, at least, within the designated period to have his claim heard and determined with such deliberation as a just regard for the rights of all concerned may demand.

"The rules relating to petitions and their contents seem to us to be such as will operate to this end. If any claimant be unwilling to conform to them, and the commission in consequence be so delayed in its work as that his case shall not be concluded when the commission expires, we trust the fault may not be ours.

"3. There were other matters discussed, but we fail to see in them any cause for modifying the rules.

"Should change or addition be deemed desirable hereafter, the way will be open.

"In this connection, and as tending to clearness of understanding in respect of some matters referred to by counsel, we announce, subject to modification, that

"Each claim referred to in article two of the convention and submitted to the commission will be taken up under the rules and heard and considered, primarily, at least, as an entirety or unit.

"When the finding therein is against Venezuela, and several persons show, by petition or petitions, themselves to be claimants' in respect thereto, within the meaning of the treaty, or to have ‘vested rights' under article nine thereof, the questions raised, so far as they fall within the jurisdiction of the commission, will then be determined."

Chilean Commission,

Convention of 1892.

The commission under the convention between the United States and Chile of August 7, 1892, adopted the following rules:

"Rules of the Commission for the Settlement of Claims under the Convention of August 7, 1892, between the United States of America and the Republic of Chile.

"I. The claims shall be entered in the docket provided for the purpose in their order of presentation, and shall be numbered consecutively, beginning with the claim first presented as number one. The style of each case shall be:

"II. The claimant shall file in the office of the commission, at any time before the ninth day of December 1893, a memorial setting forth in plain and concise terms, and without repetition, the facts constituting the grounds of the claim and relied on as entitling the claimant to relief under the convention, filing also therewith all documents in his possession and at his command; but the commission, for good cause shown, may extend the time for filing such memorial.

"III. a. This memorial shall state the name and present residence of the claimant, and the place of his residence at the time when the acts complained of occurred;

"b. Also whether the claimant is at the time he files his memorial a citizen of Chile or of the United States, by birth or naturalization, and whether he was such when the claim originated;

"c. Also a clear and detailed statement of the cause of action-that is to say, the amount claimed, the place and date of the acts from which it originated, the kind, quantity, and value of the property destroyed or injured, the kind of money in which the damage is estimated, and all the facts and circumstances in regard to the loss or damage for which indemnity is asked; and also, if known to the claimant, the name, rank, or employment of the persons committing the acts complained of.

"d. All claims for interest shall be separately stated, including the rate demanded and the time covered.

"e. If the claim or any part thereof is alleged to have arisen from acts upon the high seas, the names of the vessels concerned, the part taken by each, with the names of the commanding officers, if known, and in the service of what governments respectively engaged, with proper dates and localities, must be stated.

"f. If any transfer of the claim or any part thereof has occurred, the memorial must state how, when, by what means, for what consideration, and to and by whom the same has been made.

"g. If the claim is for property taken, lost, or injured, for which any voucher, receipt, memorandum, or any writing was given, a copy thereof