Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. v. The Unidentified Shipwrecked Vessel

Filing 163

REPLY to response to motion re 131 MOTION to dismiss Amended Complaint or for summary judgment (Reply to Odyssey) filed by Kingdom of Spain. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B-1, # 3 Exhibit B-2, # 4 Exhibit B-3, # 5 Exhibit B-4, # 6 Exhibit B-5, # 7 Exhibit B-6, # 8 Exhibit B-7, # 9 Exhibit C-1, # 10 Exhibit C-2, # 11 Exhibit C-3, # 12 Exhibit C-4, # 13 Exhibit C-5, # 14 Exhibit C-6, # 15 Exhibit D)(Goold, James)

ANNEX 2 TO EXHIBIT C (Torreblanca López Certification)

GAZETTE OF MADRID
[. . .] Wednesday 21 July 1869 [. . .]

REGENCY OF THE KINGDOM
MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY LAWS D. FRANCISCO SERRANO Y DOMÍNGUEZ, Regent of the Kingdom through the will of the Sovereign Courts; to all those who were to see and understand the present [laws], health: the Constituent Courts of the Spanish Nation, in use of their sovereignty, decree and sanction the following: Art. 1: All credits against the State[,] the recognition or liquidation of which has not been requested within the timeframes and deadlines that in accord to their origin were identified by the laws, royal decrees and orders in force, are declared expired and extinguished for ever. [. . .]

Art. 8: The State shall only respond to English prizes from the years of 1804 and 1805, claimed and justified within the time period set in the royal orders of August 24 and October 22 of 1824.

GAZETTE OF MADRID
[. . .] Thursday 9 December 1869 [. . .]

REGENCY OF THE KINGDOM
MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY DECREES [. . .]

Being content with that which, in agreement with the council of Ministers and having heard the opinion of the Council of State in full, the Minister of the Treasury has proposed to me, I hereby approve the instruction formulated to bring into effect the law of last July 19 about the expiration of credits, published in the GACETA Of the 21st. Given in Madrid on December 8 of eighteen-sixty-nine. FRANCISCO SERRANO The Minister of the Treasury LAUREANO FIGUEROLA INSTRUCTION for the compliance with the law of July 19, 1869 published in the GACETA of the 21st, about the expiration of credits against the State. [. . .] CHAPTER II. OF THE CREDITS ORIGINATING FROM TREATIES WITH FRANCE AND OF ENGLISH PRIZES [. . .]

Art. 9. The creditors for English prizes of the years 1804-1805 who have claimed the payment of their credits in the appropriate timeframe shall present within one year, counting from last July 21st, in the offices of the Debt, under penalty of expiration, in accordance with art. 3 of the law, the documents that prove the capture of the vessels, the fact of the embarkation of the captured cash, merchandise and effects, the value of these and of the ship. As means of proof, only what is listed in the following paragraphs shall be admitted: §1. For the fact of the capture: Testimony issued by the English Admiralty or by the Tribunal of the same nation that declares the prize as good. The protest of the Captain of the ship, issued in proper format. Testimony issued by the Command of the Navy in which the ship would have been registered.

Or the announcements made in the GACETA or official journals in the year in which the prize capture would have taken place. The interested [parties] are relieved of all types of proof in this part with regards to the frigates of war Mercedes, Fama, Medea, and Santa Clara due to the notoriety of their capture ["apresamiento"]. §2. For the fact of embarkation: Testimony taken from the registry of Customs from the point of departure, or issued by the Admiralty or English Tribunal that would have been informed of the capture of the ship. The knowledge of Captains, Employers and Masters of the vessels. Or the insurance policies. §3. For the type of cargo and its value: The means that were expressed as justification of embarkation. Testimony taken from the books of commerce of the senders if they were kept in due form, or certification issued by the approved agents at the point of purchase of the merchandise or effects. §4. To justify the property and value of the ship: The receipt of the acquisition of the ship. Certification issued by the Admiralty or English Tribunal that would have declared the prize as good, assuming that in it the ownership of the ships and their price were listed. Or certification issued by the Command of the Navy to which the captured ships would have corresponded, in which the registration and verified capacities are listed for the registration of the same ships.

Spanish Original