Varangian-Harberian Free Trade Treaty

Her Majesty Queen Marilyn I of Grays Harbor, in the name of the Grays Harbor Empire and the Crown Colony of New Kandor on the one part, and Tsar Hansel Semyon Riurik Halych of the Varangian Constellation on the other part, being desirous to maintain and improve the relations of good understanding which happily subsist between The Empire and the Varangian Constellation, to promote the development of commerce and navigation between the two countries and to define the rights, privileges, immunities and duties of the respective Consular officers.

Her Majesty Queen Marilyn of Grays Harbor and the Commonwealth of Overseas Territories and Colonies has put forth the following Treaty Articles:

DEFINITIONS. The term �Harberian� shall refer to parties, states, and peoples which represent and comprise the Grays Harbor Empire. The term �Varangian� shall refer to the parties, states, and peoples which represent and comprise the Varangian Constellation of States.

ARTICLE I. There shall be perpetual friendship and peace between the Grays Harbor Empire and the Varangian Constellation and between the subjects and citizens of the two imperial systems.

ARTICLE II. The subjects and citizens of the two High Contracting Parties may remain and reside in any part of said territories respectively and shall receive and enjoy full and perfect protection for their persons and property. They shall have free and easy access to the courts of justice, provided by law, in pursuit and defense of their rights, and they shall be at liberty to choose and employ lawyers, advocates or agents to pursue or defend their rights before such courts of justice; and they shall enjoy in this respect all the rights and privileges as native subjects or citizens.

In whatever relates to rights of residence, to the possession of real estate, goods and effects of any kind, to the succession to real or personal estate, by will or otherwise, and the disposal of property of any sort and in any manner whatsoever, the subjects and citizens of each Contracting Party shall enjoy the territories of the other the same privileges, liberties and rights and shall be subject only to the same imposts or charges in these respects as native subjects and citizens.

In regard to marriages concluded by subjects and citizens of the Grays Harbor Empire in the Varangian Cosntellation and by Varangian subjects and citizens in the Grays Harbor Empire, the form of marriage shall be regulated by the laws of the country where the marriage is concluded and recognized as a legal union by the other party.

The subjects or citizens of each of the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the dominions of the other entire liberty of conscience and of private or public exercise of their worship and all the guarantees, rights and protection now ensures, or that may be hereafter ensures to native subjects and citizens, or to the subjects and citizens of any other nation. This liberty and protection shall extend also to the right of burying their respective countrymen according to their religious customs, in suitable and convenient places, which they may establish and maintain for that purpose, subject always to the local laws and regulations.

The subjects and citizens of either of the Contracting Parties residing in the territories of the other shall be exempted from all compulsory military service whatsoever, whether by sea or land, and from all forced loans or military exactions or requisitions, and they shall not be compelled under any pretext whatsoever to pay any ordinary charges, requisitions or taxes, other or higher than those that are or may be paid by native subjects or citizens.
They shall not be subject to any embargo, nor be detained with their vessels, crews, cargoes or commercial effects, to be used for any military expedition whatever, or for any public or private service whatever, unless the Government or local authority shall have previously agreed with the parties interested on the indemnity to be granted for such service and for such compensation, as may fairly be required for the injury, which (not being purely fortuitous) may grow out of the service, which they have voluntarily undertaken.

ARTICLE III. There shall be between the dominions of the High Contracting Parties a reciprocal freedom of Commerce and Navigation.

The subjects and citizens of the two Contracting Parties shall have liberty to travel in any part of said territories respectively and hire and occupy houses and warehouses; and they may trade, by wholesale or retail, in all kinds of produce, manufactures and merchandise of lawful commerce without being restrained or prejudiced by any monopoly, contract or exclusive privilege of sale or purchase whatever, subject only to the laws, police and customs regulations of the country, like native subjects or citizens.

They shall have liberty, freely and securely, to come and go with their ships and cargoes to all places, ports and rivers in the territories of the other, which are or may be opened to foreign commerce, and they shall have liberty, there to discharge under the same conditions as natives or the subjects of any other nation, wholly or in part, the cargoes imported by them from abroad, and to lay in and complete, wholly or in part, their return cargoes. This liberty however shall not apply to the coasting trade, which the High Contracting Parties reserve to be regulated by the laws of their respective countries; but it is understood, that the subjects and citizens of the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy also in this respect the rights, which are or may be granted, under such laws, to the subjects and citizens of any other country.
No other or higher duties or charges on account of tonnage, light or harbor dues, pilotage, quarantine, salvage in case of damage or ship wreck, or any other local charges, shall be imposed in any of the ports of the two imperial systems respectively than shall be payable by vessels of the imperial system, to whose dominions such ports belong; and for computing such dues upon tonnage the ships' registers shall be taken as indicating the tonnage expressed therein under the system of admeasurement actually adopted by both countries, save any additions or deductions authorized by the admeasurement laws of the respective imperial systems.

It is agreed that Harberian or Varangian ships sailing under the flag of their respective country and provided with the papers and documents required by the laws of their respect country shall, for the purposes of this Treaty, be deemed such vessels as their flag and papers show.

ARTICLE IV. The High Contracting Parties agree to a nominal tariff on tradable goods and services absent a more comprehensive agreement. This nominal tariff shall be set through an annual convention of consular experts. They also agree that tariffs agreed to in a wider treaty involving the Wysterian Union supercedes this article.

ARTICLE V. The vessels of war, vessels belonging to the State, mail packets and whaling vessels of either of the Contracting Parties shall have free access to all ports, rivers or places of the other, which are open to foreign commerce and be at liberty to stay therein, to make repairs and refresh their crews and provisions. They shall be subjected to the same charges, rules, laws and regulations, as are or may be imposed on, and shall enjoy in all respects the same rights, privileges or immunities, which are or may be granted to vessels of the same class of any other nation.

ARTICLE VI. All vessels bearing the flag of the Grays Harbor Empire and the Varangian Constellation shall in times of war receive every possible protection, short of actual hostility, within the ports and waters of the two countries, and each of the Contracting Parties engages to respect under all circumstances the neutral rights of the flag and the dominions of the other.

ARTICLE VII. For the better security of commerce between the respective subjects it is agreed that if at any time any interruption of friendly intercourse should unfortunately take place between the two Contracting Parties, the subjects of either of the two Contracting Parties shall be allowed a year to close up their accounts and dispose of their property; and a safe conduct shall be given them to embark at the port, which they may themselves select. All subjects of either of the two Contracting Parties, who may be established in the territories of the other in the exercise of any trade or special-employment, shall in such case have the privilege of remaining and continuing such trade and employment therein, without any manner of interruption, in full enjoyment of their liberty and property as long as they behave peaceable and commit no offense against the laws, and their goods and effects of whatever description they may be, whether in their own custody or entrusted to individuals or to the State, shall not be liable to seizure or sequestration or to any other charge or demand than those, which may be made upon the effects or property belonging to native subjects. In the same case debts between individuals, public funds, and the shares of corporations shall never be confiscated, sequestrated or detained.

ARTICLE VIII. Each of the Contracting Parties agrees to receive from the other Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents in all its ports, cities and places, except in those, where it may not be convenient to recognize such officers. This reservation, however shall not apply to one of the Contracting Parties, without also applying to every other Power.

ARTICLE IX. The Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents shall be reciprocally received and recognized on the presentation of their commissions in the forms established in their respective countries. The necessary exequatur for the exercise of their functions shall be furnished to them free of charge, and on the exhibition of this instrument they shall be admitted at once and without difficulty by the territorial authorities, judicial or executive, of the ports, cities and places of their residence and district to the enjoyment of the prerogatives reciprocally granted. The Government that furnishes the exequatur reserves the right to withhold or withdraw the same on a statement of the reasons, for which it has thought proper to do so.

ARTICLE X. The respective Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents, as well as their Chancellors and Secretaries shall enjoy in the two countries all privileges, exemptions and immunities, which have been granted or in future may be granted to the agents of the same rank of the most favored nation. Consular officers not being citizens of the country where they are accredited shall enjoy in the country of their residence personal immunity from arrest or imprisonment, except in the case of crimes, exemption from military billetings and contributions, from military service of every sort and other public duties, and from all direct or personal or sumptuary taxes, duties or contributions. If, however, the said Consular officers are or become owners of real estate in the country, in which they reside, or engage in commerce, they shall be subject to the same taxes and imposts and to the same jurisdiction as citizens of the country, owners of real estate and merchants. But under no circumstance shall their official income be subject to any tax. Consular officers, who engage in business or commerce, shall not plead their consular privileges to avoid commercial and other liabilities. Consular officers of either character shall not in any event be interfered with in the exercise of their official functions further than is indispensable for the administration of the laws of the country.

ARTICLE XI. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents may place over the outer door of their offices or of their dwellings the arms of their nation with the proper inscription indicative of the office. And they may also hoist the flag of their country of the Consular edifice, except in places, where a Legation of their country is established. They may also hoist their flag on board any vessel employed by them in port exclusively for Consular purposes.

ARTICLE XII. The Consular archives shall be at all times inviolable, and under no pretence whatever shall the local authorities be allowed to examine or seize the papers forming part of them. When, however, a Consular officer is engaged in other business, the papers relating to the Consulate shall be kept in a separate enclosure, apart from his private papers.

ARTICLE XIII. In the event of the death, prevention or absence of Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents, their Chancellors or Secretaries, whose official character may have previously been made know to the respective authorities in the Grays Harbor Empire and the Varangian Constellation, may temporarily exercise their functions, and while thus acting they shall enjoy all the rights, prerogatives and immunities granted by this convention to their incumbents.

ARTICLE XIV. Consuls-General and Consuls may with the approbation of their respective Governments appoint Acting Consuls as their substitutes in case of hinderance or temporary absence, and Consular Agents in the cities, ports and places within their jurisdiction. Such Acting Consuls or Consular Agents shall be furnished with a commission by the Consul, who appoints them, or by his Government. Any substitute thus appointed shall enjoy consular privileges according to Articles XI and XII, while Consular Agents are to be treated as subordinates of the Consul under whose responsibility they act.

ARTICLE XV. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents shall have the right to apply to the authorities of the respective countries, judicial or executive, within the extent of their consular district, for the redress of any infraction of the treaties and conventions existing between the two countries, or of international law; to ask information of said authorities and to address the same to the end of protecting the rights and interests of their countrymen, especially in cases of the absence of the latter or of any legal representative of the same, in which cases such Consuls, etc., shall be presumed to be their legal representatives. If due notice should not be taken of such application the Consular officers aforesaid, in the absence of a Diplomatic Agent of their country, may apply directly to the Government of the country where they reside.

ARTICLE XVI. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents, of the two countries or their Chancellors, shall have the right conformably to the laws and regulations of the country:

To take at their office or dwelling, at the residence of the parties, or on board of vessels of their own nation, the depositions of the captains and crews, of passengers on board, or merchants or any other citizens of their country;

To receive and verify unilateral acts, wills and bequests of their countrymen, and any and all acts of agreement entered upon between citizens of their own country, and between such citizens and the citizens or other inhabitants of the country where they reside; and also all contracts between the latter, provided such contracts relate to property situated in, or to business to be transacted in the territory of the nation, which said Consular officers represent. But nothing in this article shall interfere with the regulations of the Grays Harbor Empire and the Varangian Constellation regarding labor contracts.

All such acts of agreement and other instruments and also copies and translations thereof, when duly authenticated by such Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents under his official seal, shall be received by the public officials and in courts of justice as legal documents or a s authenticated copies, as the case may be, and shall have the same force and effect as if drawn up or authenticated by competent officers of one or the other of the two countries.

ARTICLE XVII. In case of the death of any citizen of the Grays Harbor Empire in the Varangian Constellation or of any citizen of the The Varangian Constellation in the Grays Harbor Empire, without having in the country of his or her decease any known heirs or testamentary executors by him or her appointed, the competent local authorities shall at once inform the nearest Consular officer of the nation, to which the deceased belongs, of the circumstances, in order that the necessary information may be immediately forwarded to parties interested.

The said Consular offices shall have the right to appear personally or by delegate in all proceedings of behalf of the absent heirs or creditors until they are duly represented. He may also, when he deems it expedient, personally administer upon the estate of the deceased for the benefit of his or her lawful heirs and creditors in accordance with the laws of the country, where the death has taken place. To that end he shall apply to the competent court for authority, and in the absence of reasonable objection such authority shall be granted. In all successions to inheritances citizens of each of the Contracting Parties shall pay in the country of the other such duties only as they would be liable to pay if they were citizens of the country, in which the property is situated, or the judicial administration of the same may be exercised.

ARTICLE XVIII. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents of the two imperial systems are exclusively charged with the inventorying and the safe-keeping of goods and effects of every kind left by the sailors on ships of their nations, who died on board ship or on land, during the voyage, or in the port of destination, or by passengers while attached to the ship.

ARTICLE XIX. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents shall be at liberty to go either in person or by proxy on board vessels of their nation, admitted to entry, and to examine the officers and crews, to examine the ships' papers, to receive declarations concerning their voyage, their destination and the incidents of the voyage, also to draw up manifests and lists for freight, to facilitate the entry and clearance of their vessels, and finally to accompany the said officers or crews before the judicial or administrative authorities of the country, to assist they as their interpreters or agents. In case of the seizure or detention of any vessel in the ports of either party for violating revenue or other laws, the authorities shall give due notice to the said Consular officers, in order that they may be present at any proceedings with reference to the same, and assist the officers and crew of the ship in courts of law or before any local magistrate. Upon the non-appearance of the said officers or their representative, the case may be proceeded with in their absence.

ARTICLE XX. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents shall have exclusive charge of the internal order of the merchant vessels of their nation, and shall have the exclusive power to take cognizance of and to determine differences of every kind, which may arise either at sea or in port, between the captain, officers and crew, especially also in reference to wages and the execution of mutual contacts. Neither any court or authority shall on any pretext interfere in these differences, except in cases where the differences on board ship are of a nature to disturb the peace and public order in port or on shore, or when persons other that the officers and crew of the vessel are parties to the disturbance or difference. Except as aforesaid, the local authorities shall confine themselves to the rendering of efficient aid to the Consuls when they may ask it, in order to arrest and hold all persons, whose names are borne in the ships articles and whom they may deem it necessary to detain. Those persons shall be arrested at the sole request of the Consuls, addressed in writing to the local authorities and supported by an official extract from the register of the ship or the list of the crew, and shall be held during the whole time of the stay of the vessel in the port at the disposal of the Consuls. Their release shall be granted only at the request of the Consuls, made in writing. The expenses of the arrest and detention of those persons shall be paid by the Consuls.

ARTICLE XXI. Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agents may arrest the officers, sailors and all other persons making part of the crews of ships of war or merchant-vessels of their nation, who may be guilty or accused of having deserted said ships and vessels, for the purpose of sending them on board or back to their country. To that end the Consuls of Grays Harbor Empire in the Varangian Constellation shall apply to the authorities, and the Consuls of the Varangian Constellation in the Grays Harbor Empire shall apply to any of the competent authorities, and make a request in writing to the deserter, supporting it by an official extract of the register of the vessel and the list of the crew, or by other official documents, to show that the men, whom they claim, belong to said crew. Upon such request alone thus supported and without the exaction of any oath from the Consuls the deserters (not being citizens of the country, where the demand is made either at the time of their shipping or of their arrival in port, or accused of, or under conviction for any crime of offence) shall be given up to the Consuls. All aid and protection shall be furnished them for the pursuit, seizure and arrest of the deserters, who shall be taken to the prisons of the country and there detained at the request and the expense of the Consuls until the said Consuls may find an opportunity of sending them away.

If, however, such opportunity should not present itself with the space of six months, counting from the day of the arrest, the deserters shall be set at liberty and shall not again be arrested for the same cause.

ARTICLE XXII. In the absence of an agreement to the contrary between the owners, freighters and insurers all damages suffered at sea by the vessels f the two countries, whether enter port voluntarily or by stress of weather, shall be settled by the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents of the respective countries. If however, the said Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul or Consular Agent is interested in or agent for said vessel or cargo, or if any inhabitant of the country or citizen or subject of a third power shall be interested in the matter, and the parties cannot agree, the local authorities shall decide.

ARTICLE XXIII. In the event of a vessel belonging to the Government or owned by a citizen of one of the two Contracting Parties being wrecked or cast on shore on the coast of the other, the local authorities shall inform the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls or Consular Agent of the nearest district. All proceedings relative to the salvage of Varangian wrecked or cast on shore in the territorial waters of the Grays Harbor Empire shall take place in accordance with Imperial law, and reciprocally, all measures of salvages, relative to Harberian vessels wrecked or cast on shore in Varangian territorial waters shall take place in accordance with the laws of the Varangian Constellation. The Consular authorities have, in both countries, to intervene only to superintend the proceedings having reference to the repair and revictualling, or if necessary, to the sale of the vessel wrecked or cast on shore, and then only in the absence of parties interested, their factors or agents. For the intervention of the authorities no charges shall be made, except such as in similar cases are paid by vessel of the nation.

In case of doubt concerning the nationality of a shipwrecked vessel, the local authorities shall have exclusively the direction of the proceedings provided for in this article. All merchandise and goods not destined for consumption in the country where the wreck takes place, shall be free of all duties, but subject to regulations of bonded goods.

ARTICLE XXIV. The present Treaty shall come in force immediately after the exchange of the ratifications. In order that the two Contracting Parties may have an opportunity of hereafter treating and agreeing upon such modifications or other arrangements as may tend to the improvement of their mutual intercourse or to the advancement of the interests of their respective subjects, it is agreed that at any time after one year, either of the Contracting Parties may give to the other notice of its intention to terminate Articles IV, V and VI of the present Treaty or to terminate the Treaty as a whole, and that at the expiration of twelve months after the date of such notice, the said articles (if such notice shall have reference only to said articles) or the present Treaty (if such notice shall have been to that effect) and all the stipulations contained therein shall cease to be binding on the two Contracting Parties.

ARTICLE XXV. The present Treaty shall extend also to The Crown Colony of Channelview, the Crown Colony of West America, the Crown Colony of New Kandor, the Crown Dominion of Aldeshar and the Grays Harbor Overseas Territories of Alterdamm and the Southern Territories as long as they remain a part of the Empire.

ARTICLE XXVI. The present Treaty shall extend also to The Principality of Samaru, the Confederacy of the Steppe, the Principality of Florenzia, the Principality of Lodmeria, the Principality of New Varangia, the Principality of Fridwald, the Principality of Demeteria, and the Principality of Lituva, as long as they remain a part of the Varangian Constellation.

ARTICLE XXVII. The present Treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications exchanges made upon conclusion of the acceptance of this treaty by the governments of the Grays Harbor Empire and the Varangian Constellation.

Done on this fifteenth day on the fifth month of the two thousandth and fifth year of our Lord.

Lord Daniel Rose-Simmons, Baron Ruatha, Ambassador Plenipotentary for the Kingdom of Grays Harbor and the Empire

Anderton Andreiu, Guarantor, The Imperial Valorum of the Varangian Constellation