美国在近代中国行使治外法权的司法与外交手段——以“华尔遗款案”(1862-1904)为中心  

Joint Arbitration and Diplomatic Negotiation as Tactics of the United States Exercise of Extraterritoriality in the Late Qing China——“Ward Estate Claims(1862-1904)”

作　　者：屈文生[1] Qu Wensheng

机构地区：[1]华东政法大学涉外法治研究院、外语学院

出　　处：《法学》2023年第9期16-32,共17页Law Science

摘　　要：1862年,“常胜军”副将华尔在宁波去世前留下遗嘱,称上海道台吴煦与记名道杨坊分别欠其银若干。华尔遗产管理人遂在美国驻沪领事法庭对吴、杨二道台分别提起诉讼。美国驻沪领事法庭组织中人对本案进行“会断”,但发现该索欠案并无任何有说服力的证据支持。当美方自觉在用尽司法救济手段而无法基于国内法索得利益后,逐步依靠外交“交涉”等法外手段,终在1904年借“庚子赔款”成功索得所谓“华尔遗款”。“华尔遗款案”先后经过“会断”与“交涉”两个阶段,而“会断”与“交涉”恰是美国在半殖民地中国行使治外法权的常见方式。“会断”是司法霸凌手段,而“交涉”为外交霸凌手段,二者都是对中国司法主权的侵犯。在司法与外交的复合语境下讨论该案可以发现,美国早期对华行使治外法权时,一旦在常规、确定性的司法程序中无法获得救济时,往往会利用非常规、不确定性的外交霸凌手段来支配华洋交涉案件之审理,从而实现攫取治外法权之目的。Frederick T.Ward,an American General of the“Ever Victorious Army”,claimed in his testament before he died in Ningbo in 1862 that Wu Xu,the Circuit Intendant or Daotai of Shanghai,and Yang Ta Kee,the Alternate Daotai,owed him debts respectively.Separate lawsuits against Wu and Yang were brought by the administrator of Ward’s estate in American Consular Court of Shanghai.The“Ward Estate Claims”were not supported by any compelling evidence,a conclusion which the Consular Court came to after organizing a joint arbitration to settle the dispute.After exhausting all judicial options and realizing that the claims were not able to be settled by referring to the American domestic law in the Consular Court,the American plaintiff and US officials gradually relied on diplomatic negotiation and other extrajudicial tactics to get payments,and eventually the“Ward Estate Claims”were paid out of the Boxer Indemnity in 1904.Joint arbitration and diplomatic negotiation were two phases that this case went through.Joint arbitration,as a judicial method,and diplomatic negotiation,as a gunboat diplomacy tool,were two typical tactics employed by the United States to exercise its extraterritoriality in semi-colonial China.The findings of this research paper,in a polyphonic context of both law and diplomacy,reveal that the United States would turn to a diplomatic bullying mode to gain an ascendant position over both parties of a judicial case to obtain extraterritorial rights in the Late Qing China when it was unable to obtain relief through judicial channels.

关 键 词：华尔遗款案 会断 交涉 治外法权 

分 类 号：D829.712[政治法律—政治学] K25[政治法律—外交学] K712.4[历史地理—历史学]