§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it has come to his knowledge that, by a recent decision of the French Court of Cassa- 328 tion, it has been decided that persons recognised in England as British aliens are, by a retrospective law, liable to military service in France if born of a British parent also there born; and whether this is in accordance with the Anglo-French Convention of 28th February, 1882, in which it is stated that those subjects of each country within the jurisdiction of the other shall be exempted from the military service of that other. "Les ressortissant de chacun des deux Etats seront exempts dans l'autre de tout service militaire."
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir E. GREY, Northumberland, Berwick)The subject is explained in a Paper recently laid before Parliament, Miscellaneous Series, No. 3, 1893, page 44. The French Courts have decided that the Anglo-French Convention does not apply under the circumstances stated, inasmuch as the interpretation of that Convention, as regards the determination of what persons are to be considered "subjects" of each country, must be decided by the laws in force in either country. The French law regards such persons as French citizens.