Italy—1863 Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation

Italy Treaty

On July 22, 1863, a Treaty was signed between Italy and the Hawaiian Kingdom in Paris and thereafter ratified by both governments. Article IV of this treaty provides:

“the respective citizens of the two countries shall enjoy the most constant and complete protection for their persons and property.  Consequently, they shall have free and easy access to the courts of justice in the pursuit and defense of their rights, in every instance and degree of jurisdiction established by the laws.”

Neither Italy nor the Hawaiian Kingdom gave notice to the other of its intention to terminate this treaty in accordance with the terms of Article XXVII of the 1863 Treaty.  Therefore, this treaty is still in full force and continues to have legal effect to date. Former Italian territories, which acquired their independence from Italy, are successor States to, at the very least, Article IV of the Hawaiian-Italian Treaty with regard to the citizenry of the successor State that effectively replaced the citizenry of the predecessor State in the treaty. The successor State is:

  1. Libya.  Independence:  December 24, 1951.
  2. Somalia.  Independence:  July 1, 1960, from a merger of British Somaliland that became independent from the United Kingdom on 26 June 1960 and Italian Somaliland that became independent from the Italian-administered UN trusteeship on 1 July 1960 to form the Somali Republic.

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