The Supreme Government of the Republic: Considering that it behoves us to extend and cultivate relations of amity, good understanding, and harmony with foreign nations, and consequently to acquaint the national authorities with the system which the Government follows and seeks to enforce for this purpose with reference to foreign subjects, decrees, in virtue of and in conformity with the fundamental laws of the State and its political and commercial principles, that the said authorities shall punctually observe the following rules:—Art. 1. The Supreme Government of the Republic will maintain, as a general and unalterable privilege in its relations with foreign powers, a perfect and absolute equality; so that wheresoever there may be any identity of cases or circumstances, no privileges, immunities, or favours whatsoever shall be granted to any nation which shall not in like manner be conceded to all others. Art. 2. Consequently, every foreigner, whosoever he may be, can betake himself to such ports of the Republic as are open to foreign commerce, and there carry on his mercantile operations in perfect freedom. Art. 3. Now, and for the whole time that the Government shall consider those circumstances to exist which have induced it to appoint certain ports for the admission of foreigners, the latter will not be allowed to proceed (s’interner) to other ports without a special permission from the Government. Art. 4. Every foreigner, during his stay in the territory of the Republic, shall have full liberty to commence and to exercise his trade or profession: he shall obtain for his person all protection and security, provided that on his side he respects the authorities and the laws of the State. Art. 5. All foreigners are exempt from forced service by sea or land, from all military exactions or requisitions, and from extraordinary contributions, and shall only pay those levied on natives, with the slight difference consecrated by law between citizens and foreigners. Art. 6. No foreigner shall be persecuted on account of his religion, on condition that he does not exercise his worship publicly, and that he respects the religion of the State, its ministers, and its public ceremonies. Art. 7. Foreigners are in no case obliged to trust their business to agents or brokers; they have in this respect the same immunities as natives. Art. 8. Money, goods, or property of any nature whatsoever belonging to foreigners residing within the territory of the Republic, and confided either to the State or to private individuals, shall be respected and kept inviolate, both in time of war and in time of peace. Art. 9. In virtue of the principle recognised in the preceding article, should a rupture occur between the Republic and a foreign country, the subjects and citizens of that country residing within the territory of the Republic shall be allowed to remain there and continue their trade or profession without hindrance, provided that they conduct themselves with suitable fidelity, and in nowise violate the laws and regulations in force. Art. 10. The exportation of the produce of the country by foreigners shall be subjected to no other duty than that paid by natives. Art. 11. The Supreme Government of the Republic can eject from its territories, either in time of peace or of war, any foreigner whose bad conduct gives rise to the adoption of this measure, but he shall be allowed a reasonable time for the settlement of his affairs. Art. 12. All foreigners residing within the territory of the Republic have a right to dispose of their property, either by will or in whatever form they may consider advisable. Art. 13. In case of the decease of a foreigner without a will, his property shall be preserved in the form prescribed in the following article, for his heirs ab intestato, or for his creditors. Art. 14. In the case stated in the preceding article, that is to say, the decease of a foreigner ab intestato, the judge of the district where the decease takes place, assisted by two honourable fellow-countrymen of the deceased, and in default of these by two inhabitants of the locality, shall proceed, with the least possible delay, to make out a minute inventory of all the property of the defunct, shall keep them in a place of safety, and shall render an account of the whole, accompanied by the inventory, to the Government, so that the property may be deposited in a proper place, according to its nature. Art. 15. The said decease, ab intestato shall then be announced in the Gazette, in order that all those concerned may be made acquainted with it. If any heir or creditor appears he shall produce legal proof of his claim. Art. 16. If no party concerned appears, or delays in the proceedings threaten to occasion a deterioration of the property, the latter shall be converted into the currency of the country, and which shall be deposited in the chest of the Treasurer or Receiver-General, and under their responsibility. Art. 17. In case the parties concerned cannot legally prove their claims, or shall not appear after the lapse of two years dated from the commencement prescribed in art. 15, the property so deposited shall be adjudged to the national treasury. Art. 18. Property delivered to foreigners who are the legitimate progenitors or descendants of foreigners who have died testate or ab intestato, shall pay at the time they receive it a duty of five per cent. When it is delivered to any other foreign heir, who is neither a progenitor nor a descendant in virtue of a will or succession ab intestato, the duty shall be ten per cent.
In order that all may be made acquainted with the present decree, it shall be promulgated in the legal form and deposited in the public archives.
CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ.
AUDRES GIL, Sec. to the Supreme Govt.
Assumption, 20th May, 1845.
At the same time, publicity had been given to another document, which showed that not only were the persons and property of strangers perfectly safe in Paraguay, but that protection was afforded to the fruits of their invention and ingenuity, in a manner that other nations, pretending to a much higher degree of civilization, would do well to imitate, viz.:—
The Supreme Government of the Republic, desirous of encouraging industry and developing the elements of improvement possessed by the State, and considering that one of the most efficient means consists in properly defining and guaranteeing the position and rights of those who conduce to so useful an end, decrees:—
Art. 1. Every discovery or new invention in whatever branch of industry it may be, is the property of the inventor, and its enjoyment is guaranteed to him in the form and for the time specified in the following articles. Art. 2. Every means of giving to a production already in existence a greater degree of perfection shall be considered as a new discovery. Art. 3. Whosoever shall introduce into the Republic a discovery of foreign origin shall enjoy the same advantages which he would have derived from it had he been the inventor. Art. 4. Whosoever is desirous of obtaining and insuring to himself the enjoyment of an industrial property of the description above-mentioned, shall—first, address to the Secretary of the Supreme Government a declaration in writing specifying the nature of his claim, whether it is for a discovery, the perfecting, or the introduction of one; secondly, forward under seal an exact description of the principles, means, and procedure which constitute the discovery, as well as the plans, designs, models, and other documents which relate to it, and which sealed paper or volume shall be opened at the moment when the inventor shall receive a title to his property. Art. 5. The inventor shall be granted a patent which shall guarantee him the discovery as his property for the space of five or ten years, reckoned from the date of the patent. This period, however, may be extended, and other advantages conceded if the importance of the invention is so great as to call for extraordinary protection. Art. 6. The period during which a patent granted for an invention introduced from a foreign country remains in force cannot exceed by more than six months that stated in the patent taken out for the invention in that country. Art. 7. The possessor of a patent shall be exclusively entitled to the use and proceeds of the discovery, or the perfecting or introduction of one, for which it shall have been granted; consequently he can bring an action against infractors of his patent, and on conviction they shall be condemned, besides confiscation, to pay to the patentee all costs and damages; and, moreover, a fine of twenty per cent. on the total amount of the preceding condemnation, which shall be applied to public expenses. Art. 8. Should the denunciation of fraud, followed by the sequestration of the defendant’s property, be found devoid of proofs, the patentee shall be condemned to pay to the defendant all losses and damages which he may have sustained, besides a fine of twenty per cent. on the total amount of the said losses and damages, to be applied in like manner to public expenses. Art. 9. Every patentee shall have the right of forming establishments in different parts of the Republic, excepting only such reserved places as have been declared to him beforehand, as well as of authorising other individuals to use and put his procedure, his discovery, and his secret in practice—in fine, to dispose of his patent as if it were personal property. Art. 10. Before the expiration of the period for which the patent is granted, the descriptions of the invention can only be communicated to some citizen who may wish to consult them, unless political or commercial reasons should require the whole to be kept secret, or the inventor has solicited and obtained at the time he took out the patent an assurance that complete reserve shall be maintained with regard to his invention. Art. 11. At the expiration of the patent the invention or discovery shall become the property of the Republic; and the Supreme Government shall cause a description of it to be published, and shall allow it to be generally used and engaged, save and except when it shall be necessary to place some restrictions on it. Art. 12. This publication shall also take place, and the use of the operations which constitute the invention declared free, if the possessor of a patent loses his right to it, which can only happen in the following cases: First, when the inventor shall be convicted of having omitted in his description any of the procedure essential to the preparation of the article invented, or of not having set it forth with sufficient fidelity or details; secondly, when he has not communicated the new modifications or improvements of his discovery known to him at the time when he takes out his patent or even discovered by him after having obtained it, and the enjoyment of which is as safely guaranteed to him as that of the first invention; thirdly, when it shall be demonstrated that he has obtained his patent by an invention already to be found and described in works printed and published, so that in reality it is no new invention; fourthly, when, during the lapse of two years from the date of the patent, he has not begun to make use of his discovery, excepting when he can give good reasons for the delay; fifthly, when, after he has obtained a patent from the republic, he is convicted for having obtained another for the same invention in a foreign country without preliminary authority; sixthly, the patent shall in like manner be revoked, the invention published, and its use made free, if the purchaser of the right to use an invention specified in a patent violates the conditions imposed on the inventor, conditions which are not the less binding on the purchaser. Art. 13. If a discovery which is useful to the public is found to be eminently simple in its execution and susceptible of being too easily imitated, the inventor, instead of a patent, may demand an equivalent remuneration. Art. 14. This may likewise take place when the inventor prefers the honour of causing the nation to enjoy the advantages of his discovery at once. This remuneration shall be proportionate to the respective utility of the inventions, well and duly certified and appreciated. Art. 15. If any one discovers a fresh improvement for an invention already guaranteed by a patent, he shall obtain, at his request, another patent for the separate use of this new improvement, nevertheless he shall never be permitted, under any pretext whatsoever, to use or cause to be used the principal invention, and reciprocally the inventor cannot use or cause to be used the new improvement, without prejudice to such arrangements as may be made between themselves. Art. 16. The priority of invention, in cases of dispute between two patentees relative to the same article, shall be awarded to him who has first made the declaration and deposited the documents, as required in Art. 4.
In order that every one may be made acquainted with the present decree, it shall be published in the legal form and deposited in the public archives.
CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ.
AUDRES GIL, Sec. to the Supreme Government.