Article 4. Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland may appoint Consuls or other Consular Officers to reside at ports or stations within the said territories, and the Association engages itself to protect them.
Article 5. Every British Consul or Consular Officer within the said territories, who shall be thereunto duly authorised by Her Britannic Majesty’s Government, may hold a Consular Court for the district assigned to him, and shall exercise sole and exclusive jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over the persons and property of British subjects within the same, in accordance with British law.
Article 6. Nothing in the last preceding Article contained shall be deemed to relieve any British subject from the obligation to observe the laws of the said Free States applicable to foreigners, but any infraction thereof by a British subject shall be justiciable only by a British Consular Court.
Article 7. Inhabitants of the said territories who are subject to the Government of the Association, if they shall commit any wrong against the person or property of a British subject, shall be arrested and punished by the authorities of the Association according to the laws of the said Free States.
Justice shall be equitably and impartially administered on both sides.
Article 8. A British subject, having reason to complain against an inhabitant of the said territories, who is subject to the Government of the Association, must proceed to the British Consulate, and there state his grievance. The Consul shall inquire into the merits of the case, and do his utmost to arrange it amicably. In like manner, if any such inhabitant of the said territories shall have reason to complain against a British subject, the British Consul shall no less listen to his complaint and endeavour to settle it in a friendly manner. If disputes take place of such a nature that the Consul cannot arrange them amicably, then he shall request the assistance of the authorities of the Association to examine into the merits of the case and decide it equitably.
Article 9. Should any inhabitant of the said territories, who is subject to the Government of the Association, fail to discharge any debt incurred to a British subject, the authorities of the Association will do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to enforce recovery of the said debt; and should any British subject fail to discharge a debt incurred by him to any such inhabitant, the British authorities will in like manner do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to enforce recovery of the debt. No British Consul nor any authority of the Association is to be held responsible for the payment of any debt contracted either by a British subject or, by any inhabitant of the said territories, who is subject to the Government of the Association.
Article 10. In case of the Association being desirous to cede any portion of the territory now or hereafter under its Government, it shall not cede it otherwise than as subject to all the engagements contracted by the Association under this Convention. Those engagements, and the rights thereby accorded to British subjects, shall continue to be in vigour after every cession made to any new occupant of any portion of the said territory.
This Convention shall, be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged with the least possible delay. It shall come into operation immediately upon the exchange of ratifications.
Done at Berlin the 16th December, 1884.