CLAIM No. 82. Date of Filing.... American and British Clarins PECUNIARY CLAIMS ARBITRATION. ADOLPH G. STUDER. ANSWER OF HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT. THIS claim is described at the beginning of the Memorial as one for "the repeated invasion and ultimate destruction of concessionary and property rights in the State of Muar in the Malay Peninsula." There is nothing to show in the above phrase by whom the alleged invasion and destruction took place, and it is not until page 40 is reached that the Memorial indicates the party against whom the claim is put forward. The claim has been the subject of diplomatic correspondence between Great Britain and the United States since the 30th November, 1896, but hitherto has invariably been treated by the United States Government as a claim against the Government of Johore, though presented to Great Britain as the State to whose hands the Sultan of Johore has committed the conduct of his foreign. relations. From the way in which the Memorandum is now framed, His Majesty's Government infer that it is intended to treat Great Britain as a party primarily and directly responsible. The foundation of the claim is a grant of land executed by Sultan Ali, the titular ruler of Muar, in favour of Major Studer, the United States Consul at Singapore, on the 24th December, 1875,* and completed by a final or supplementary deed dated the 3rd February, 1877.t The question on which this claim really depends, is the legal effect to be attributed to these grants by Sultan Ali. * Memorial, page 201. [788-18] † Memorial, page 204. Throughout the Memorial, and in all the voluminous presentations of the claim which have from time to time been put forward by the United States Government on Major Studer's behalf, it is assumed that these documents are to be interpreted in accordance with the laws and legal principles relating to land which obtain in England or the United States. It appears to His Majesty's Government that there is a complete absence of any recognition of the fact that as these documents purported to convey land in Muar, they must be construed subject to and in accordance with the land law prevailing in that territory. When the Malay law on land is studied and Sultan Ali's grants are interpreted in accordance therewith, it will be found that Major Studer has not been deprived of any rights which those grants conferred upon him, and that no action by the Sultan of Johore, still less by His Majesty's Government, has been the cause of any loss which he has suffered, or has given him any just cause for complaint. It will also be seen from the later pages of this Answer, that ample opportunities were afforded to Major Studer and his representatives of testing the validity of his alleged rights before the legal tribunals. It would therefore be inequitable that any award should be pronounced in their favour, in view of the failure to exhaust the legal remedies which were open to them or were placed at their disposal. It will also be seen that some of the beneficiaries under Major Studer's intestacy are British subjects, and that so far as concerns their shares the claim must necessarily fail. Sultan Ali's Grants. The texts of the grants made by Sultan Ali to Major Studer are printed at pages 201 and 204 of the Memorial. The first one purports to convey to A. G. Studer, his heirs, assigns, executors, and administrators, for ever, a rect |