II. THE LEGAL
BASIS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CAODAI LEGAL ENTITY
To operate
legally, first of all, Caodaism must have its legal entity. Therefore, on
Thursday, 07 October 1926, Cardinal Thượng Trung Nhựt (Lê Văn Trung) himself
submitted to Le Fol, Acting Governor of Cochinchina, the documents required by
the current law. They included:
a. An about
500-word document explaining the name and the purpose of Đại đạo Tam kỳ Phổ độ (the Third
Universalism of the Great Way
b. Some excerpts
from Caodai teachings and some passages of Caodai prayers in French version.
c. A list of
Caodai followers.
Right after that,
Caodai pioneers positively launched their diffusion activities almost
throughout the six provinces of Cochinchina without waiting for any permit
since such a document was not required by the French Law then. Instead, only a
simple procedure of “registration” was enough for their religious diffusion.
Perhaps the present generation cannot
understand why the declaration of the foundation of Caodaism seemed to be so
easy and smooth. However, the understanding of the law will make it obvious to
see why Caodaism had to start in Cochinchina as a French colony rather
than in Annam or Tonkin , where the local law was not advantageous at all.
Indeed, as a
French colony, Cochinchina was dominated
by the French Law. The French colonialists started applying the French Law to
Cochinchina right after their occupying the three eastern provinces. They did
not postpone that application until 24 June 1867, when the three western
provinces of Cochinchina fell into their hands.
Related to the
process of applying the French Law to Cochinchina, some main historical
landmarks can be listed as follows:
01
September 1858: The allied Franco-Spanish forces attacked and occupied
Sơn Trà peninsula in Đà Nẵng (used to be named Tourane
by the French). This event started the process of taking over Vietnam
05
June 1862: Huế Court France
and Spain in Saigon . The representative of France Spain
21
December 1864: Rear Admiral De la Grandière, Governor of Cochinchina, had the French Law announced in the
three eastern provinces of Cochinchina.
June
1867: The French invaded three provinces: Vĩnh Long (20 June), An Giang (22
June) and Hà Tiên (24 June).
25
June 1867: Rear Admiral De la Grandière, Commander-in-Chief of French expeditionary
troops in Cochinchina, declared that from this day on, the six provinces of
Cochinchina belonged to France
23
August 1871: A decree issued by the French stipulated that the
inhabitants in Cochinchina had to be judged according to the French Law while
seven minorities such as the Chams, the Chinese, the Malay in Châu Đốc, the Khmers,
the Minh Hương,[2] the Siamese,[3]
and the Stiengs had to be judged according to the Vietnamese Law.[4]
31
August 1874: Rear Admiral Jules François Émile Krantz, Acting Governor
of Cochinchina,[5]
issued a decree to assimilate the Minh Hương to the Vietnamese in order to
judge those people of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese blood according to the French
Law.[6]
06
March 1877: The President of France ([7])
issued a decree to apply the French Criminal Code in all French colonies,
including Cochinchina.
03
October 1883: The President of France [8]
issued a decree to apply some articles of the French Civil Code in
Cochinchina.[9]
06
January 1903: The Governor of Indochina [10]
issued a decree which forced all Vietnamese living in Cochinchina to be
judged according to the French Criminal Code applied in Cochinchina even though
they were not yet classified as citoyens
français (French citizens).[11]
In the early 20th
century, Cardinal Lê Văn Trung and many of other Caodai pioneers were either
district chiefs or high-ranking civil servants in the Government of
Cochinchina. They had, therefore, a thorough knowledge of administrative
procedures and the French Law being applied in Cochinchina.
When completing
formalities for establishing the Caodai legal entity, Caodai pioneers followed the
Associations Bill of 01 July 1901.[12] The Bill was
signed by Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (1846-1904), a Republican
Party member, who was Prime Minister of France (term 1899-1902) under President
Émile Loubet (term 1899-1906). Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes
The full text of
the Associations Bill of 01 July 1901 was made public in the Official Journal dated
02 July 1901. Most of these articles can be found on Internet [13] except the lost
ones, say Article 12 (of Chapter II), Articles 14, 16, 19 (of Chapter III), and
Articles 22-35 (of Chapter IV).
The following is
the translation
of Article 2, Article 5 (excerpt), and Article 21 bis.
Article 2.
Associations
can be freely established without prior authorization or declaration, but they
will enjoy legal capacity only if they comply with the stipulations of Article
5.
Article 5.
Any association which
wants to obtain the legal capacity envisaged by Article 6 will have to be made
public by its founders.
The prior declaration will be made in the province
prefecture or the district sub-prefecture where its headquarters is located. It
will make known the name and the purpose of the association, the locations of
its establishments and the names, professions, residences and nationalities of
those who, with their specified titles, are in charge of its administration or
its direction. Two copies of the statutes must be attached to the declaration.
The receipt of this declaration will be given within five days.
(...).
The association is made
public in the Official Journal when this receipt is produced.
Associations must
make known, within three months, all the changes which have occurred in their
administration or direction, as well as all the modifications made to their
statutes.
(…)
In addition, the
modifications and changes will be recorded in a separate register which will
have to be presented to the administrative or legal authorities when requested.
Article 21 bis.
The
present law is applicable to the overseas territories and the territorial
collectivity of Mayotte.[14]
ORIGINAL TEXT IN FRENCH
Article 2.
Les associations de personnes
pourront se former librement sans autorisation ni déclaration préalable, mais
elles ne jouiront de la capacité juridique que si elles se sont conformées aux
dispositions de l'article 5.
Article 5.
Toute association qui voudra
obtenir la capacité juridique prévue par l'article 6 devra être rendue publique
par les soins de ses fondateurs.
La déclaration préalable en
sera faite à la préfecture du département ou à la sous-préfecture de
l'arrondissement où l'association aura son siège social. Elle fera connaître le
titre et l'objet de l'association, le siège de ses établissements et les noms,
professions, domiciles et nationalités- de ceux qui, à un titre quelconque,
sont chargés de son administration ou de sa direction. Deux exemplaires des
statuts seront joints à la déclaration. Il sera donné récépissé de celle-ci
dans le délai de cinq jours.
(...).
L'association n'est rendue
publique que par une insertion au Journal officiel, sur production de ce
récépissé.
Les
associations sont tenues de faire connaître, dans les trois mois, tous les
changements survenus dans leur administration ou direction, ainsi que toutes
les modifications apportées à leurs statuts.
(…)
Les modifications et changements
seront, en outre, consignés sur un registre spécial qui devra être présenté aux
autorités administratives ou judiciaires chaque fois qu'elles en feront la
demande.
Article 21 bis
La présente loi est applicable aux
territoires d'outre-mer et à la collectivité territoriale de Mayotte.
*
In sum, an
overview of the application of the French Law in Cochinchina as a French colony
and a glimpse into the Associations Bill of 1901 with its flexible stipulations
may help posterity understand why the earliest Caodaists could establish the
legal entity of their new faith so easily in Saigon
in 1926. This fact also sheds new light on the choice of Cochinchina, rather
than Annam or Tonkin , for the cradle of Caodaism.
Phú
Nhuận, 14 November 2007
HUỆ KHẢI
[2] Minh Hương 明鄕 literally means “Ming villagers”. The term refers to
those whose Vietnamese mothers married Chinese emigrants to Vietnam
[3] The country name “Siam Siam ”
was changed to Muangthai, i.e., Thailand
[4] [Dương Kinh Quốc 1999: 84].
[5] Jules François Émile Krantz (1821-1914) had
one term (from 16 March 1874 to 30 November 1874).
[6] [Dương Kinh Quốc
1999: 103].
[7]
Patrice de Mac-Mahon (1808-1893),
a Monarchist Party member, had one presidential term (1873-1879).
[8] Jules Grévy
(1807-1891), a Republican Party member, had two presidential terms (1879-1886, and 1886-1887).
[9] [Dương Kinh Quốc
1999: 41].
[10] Jean Baptiste
Paul Beau’s term was from October 1902 to February 1907.
[12] Loi du 1er Juillet 1901 régissant les associations, Loi du 1 Juillet 1901
relative au contrat d'association, Loi sur les associations 1901. It is often named
the Associations Bill
of 1901 in some English documents.
[14] Mayotte is located in the Mozambique Channel in the
Indian Ocean, between northern Madagascar
and northern Mozambique
