“德兰诺瓦”事件新探

A New Discussion of “Francis Terranova Incident”

"德兰诺瓦"事件是早期中美关系史上的重要事件,但对其专文研究不多且存有争议。本文主要依据新问世的《美国驻中国广州领事馆领事报告》等美国外交史料,经辨析认为:首先,德兰诺瓦在法理上确属故意杀人,并非"无罪",也非"过失伤人"。其次,中方的审理符合国际法基本原则,是依照中国律例及司法程序进行的合理的司法行为,并非是场"闹剧",处理结果也相对温和,而非"过于严厉"。再次,美方对中方关于"德兰诺瓦"事件的审判批评不断,应是当时中西关系背景下社会文化差异的真实反映,但美方忽略了对自身行为合理、合法性的反思,并企图借此攫取在华"片面领事裁判权"的行为则严重侵犯了中国主权。

'Francis Terranova' Incident is one of the important events in the early phase of the relation between American and China.It induced the first interruption of the trade between America and China.What's more,it induced the dispute of one-sided consular jurisdiction of American in china.But so far,there are still few academic studies about it,while great controversy exists.The Consular Reports of U.S.Consulate in Guangzhou,China,is one of important diplomatic documents.It contains a lot of valuable historical data which have been not used so far.According to this book and other historical data,the writer believes that,although the laws and the judicial procedure of Qing dynasty were backward,the fact can be proved as follows:First,according to law,Francis Terranova's behavior is 'intentional homicide',not 'innocence' or 'negligent wounding'.Second,the Chinese government official's trial was conducted in accordance with the law,while American acted to suppress the adverse testimonies.And the Chinese government official's trial was mild,not 'too harsh'.Third,after 'Francis Terranova' Incident took place,the law and the judicial practices of China have been criticized by western countries all the time.This is a true reflection of social and cultural differences,and it should be understandable.However,American behavior in attempting to grab a one-sided consular jurisdiction in China violated seriously China's sovereignty.