Noyes to By the President: Wm. M. Evarts, May 7, 1880
No. 232. Mr. Noyes to Mr. Evarts.
No. 346.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith, for the information of the State Department, copies of a communication recently addressed by me to the French minister for foreign affairs, and his answer thereto, regarding the rights of the United States consul-general to take possession of and administer upon the effects of American citizens dying in France.
It will be observed that the French Government holds that in principle all such estates must be administered in the courts of the country, and that the United States consul-general has of right no authority in the premises.
This decision is at variance with the custom heretofore prevailing, and is based, as will be seen, upon the absence of a treaty stipulation upon the subject between the two countries and upon the failure of reciprocity under the method of administration adopted in the United States regarding the estates of Frenchmen dying there.
I have, &c.,