Annuaire de législation haïtienne: the laws, decrees and arrêtés of 1907

The fourth year of the Annuaire, and one of the richest for economic legislation.

The commercial treaty of 31 July 1900 with France, extended several times and finally denounced, was replaced by a new convention agreed in January 1907 and sanctioned by the Legislature on 12 and 18 June; the editor judges it on the whole more advantageous to Haiti than the 1900 treaty. The long-awaited nationality law was voted and promulgated in August, fixing in 23 articles how Haitian nationality is acquired and lost under articles 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10 of the 1889 Constitution. On railways, the growth of the lines and the volume of concession contracts forced a general regime: the Public Works secretary's regulation of January 1907 covered only the Gonaïves-Hinche line and, by creating penalties, trespassed on the legislature's powers, so two laws were passed instead, one setting the administrative rules for establishing railways and one creating penalties for offences on the lines. A law of 9 July likewise placed the national land telegraph network under statute, with penalties, and a further 98,000 dollars was voted for it.

Beyond the concessions voted in 1906 and published in 1907, the volume carries the contract of Lovinski Isidore for model farms and agricultural industries, the Senators William and David contract for a metal bridge over the Rivière l'Estère, and amendments to the Cap-Haïtien to Port-au-Prince railway contracts.