in the honors paid to the deceased diplomat, and the fullest immunities possible are extended to his suite. A time limit may, if expedient, be fixed for the departure of his suite.

(i) The state to which a diplomatic agent is accredited may dismiss him as an evidence of displeasure with his conduct,38 or because of strained relations with his state. In case of dismissal for personal misconduct, another ambassador may be received. In case of dismissal on the ground of strained relations, the suspension may continue till normal relations are restored.

(j) Sometimes the death or change of the head of a state, where sovereignty is personal in nature, terminates the mission of all diplomats accredited to or by him, and new letters of credence must issue. So far as there is no change in the diplomatic personnel, the former order of seniority prevails, and the new letters of credence are regarded as in continuation of the old.

38 In 1895 Venezuela dismissed the Belgian and French ministers. at the same time asserting "that the dismissal of the Belgian and French ministers was a purely personal act, due alone to the circumstance that those individuals had joined with certain other foreign representatives not now accredited to Venezuela in signing a certain protocol of conference containing gratuitous and defamatory statements reflecting upon the honor of the state and the integrity of its executive, which protocol was subsequently made public by the Italian government in the annual Green Book; that by so doing, of their own initiative and not in compliance with instructions from the friendly governments they represented, each of those gentlemen had rendered himself individually to the government of Venezuela persona non grata; and that in acting upon the situation so created, and in accordance with the usual course of independent states in such contingencies, Venezuela intended no affront to France or Belgium, whose flags she had conspicuously saluted on the same day that she dismissed their personally objectionable agents, but rather invited the continuance of the hitherto unbroken friendly relations through new agents, who should more fittingly reflect what she is happy to believe are the true sentiments of friendship which those governments feel for Venezuela." Foreign Relations U. S., 1895,

p. 41.

64.

65.

CHAPTER VI.

CONSULAR AND OTHER RELATIONS.

Consuls.

Functions of Consular Officers.

66. Appointment and Reception of Consuls.

67. Termination of Consular Office.

68.

69.

Immunities and Privileges of Consular Officers.
Other State Agents.

CONSULS.

64. A consul is an official appointed by a state mainly for the purpose of protecting and advancing its business, commerce, and navigation in a foreign state, in which he is officially permitted to exercise his functions.

Functions somewhat similar to those of consuls of modern times seem to have been exercised in very early days. There were commercial magistrates, who like the Roman prætores mercatorum, settled disputes of sailors on board vessels. The spread of commerce and the settlement in a particular quarter of a city of a number of foreigners engaged in trade made necessary some degree of protection of their interests. Sometimes officials whose functions corresponded somewhat closely to those of consuls were appointed by a ruler to care for the rights of his citizens abroad. Sometimes the consuls seem to have been chosen by the merchants themselves to look out for their interests. With the rise of permanent diplomatic missions and their development in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the political and some of the other functions formerly performed by consuls passed to the ambassadors. With the revival and extension of general commercial relations and the greater intercourse following improved means of communication since the end of the eighteenth century, the consular office has again increased in importance.2

1 Nys, Les Origines du droit international, p. 286.

2 For full treatment of United States system and practice, see "The Consular Service of the United States," Chester Lloyd Jones. See, also, "Le Consul," Ellery C. Stowell, 1909,

The foreigners in a city seem sometimes to have purchased the right to the benefit of their own laws, or of laws which they were willing to acknowledge. Very often states made treaties by which special laws should be applicable to the foreign traders. From the time of the Crusades examples of the exercise of consular jurisdiction are common. The foreign quarters of commercial towns were quite generally under foreign officers. In the commercial towns of Italy during the Middle Ages the consular institutions developed rapidly. In the Mohammedan countries the consuls by capitulations of the sovereigns came to have complete jurisdiction of the persons and interests of those of their own nationality. For a time the consuls had similar jurisdiction in some of the European states. In the Asiatic states the jurisdiction has tended to remain very wide, while in other states the tendency was to reduce it to the field of business and commercial interests.

The United States has appointed consuls since 1780, though its agents abroad discharged consular functions prior to that date. The service was formally established by an act of April 14, 1792.3

SAME-FUNCTIONS OF CONSULAR OFFICERS.

65. While the general functions of consuls are to watch over the commercial and business interests of the country which they serve, they are charged with many other duties, particularly in some non-Christian states.

The duties of consuls may be prescribed by municipal law or by treaty. The consul usually has large supervision over the maritime commerce of his state which may enter his jurisdiction. According to the law of some states, he receives the ship's papers on entrance to port. He may take depositions on board the ship, draw up, attest, certify, or authenticate acts, adjust differences arising on board between captain, officers, and crew, cause the arrest of deserters, adjust claims for damages, care for shipwrecked seamen, take charge of the wrecked vessel, authenticate the bill of sale of a vessel, etc.

By reports he is supposed to keep his state informed of the

81 Stat. 254.

business and other conditions of which it would be serviceable for his state to be informed.

The range of consular reports is very comprehensive, and if desired information cannot be had from the reports it is often possible to obtain information from a special investigation, if application is made through the proper channel. A consul may be, and usually is, intrusted with many duties in the way of caring for and protecting the nationals of the state he is serving. He may aid in securing proper treatment by the courts, attest legal documents, examine witnesses, visé passports, care for the property and person of deceased nationals, etc.

5

In certain states not members of the family of nations the jurisdiction over nationals of states members of this family is intrusted to the consuls. This is exceptional jurisdiction, and will tend to disappear. The jurisdiction varies somewhat under different treaties. It may go so far as to cover all cases to which a consul's nationals are parties, may cover merely cases where a national is the defendant (here the consul or a representative may be present), may cover cases between nationals of the same or different foreign states; and may provide for mixed courts, as in Egypt since 1876, or make other provisions."

The treaty between the United States and the Ottoman Empire of May 7, 1830, is an example of a treaty granting special consular jurisdiction:

4 United States consular courts in Japan were discontinued July 17, 1899, in accord with the treaty of November 22, 1894.

5 "His Highness, the Sultan of Borneo, agrees that in all cases where a citizen of the United States shall be accused of any crime committed in any part of His Highness' dominions the person so accused shall be exclusively tried and adjudged by the American consul, or other officer duly appointed for that purpose, and in all cases where disputes or differences may arise between American citizens, or between American citizens and the subjects of His Highness, or between American citizens and the citizens of subjects of any other foreign power, in the dominions of the Sultan of Borneo, the American consul or other duly appointed officer shall have power to hear and decide the same without any interference, molestation or hindrance, on the part of any authority of Borneo, either before, during or after the litigation." Treaty of June 23, 1850, art. 9.

6 United States Treaty with Persia, Dec. 13, 1856, art. 5.

7 A special court for China was created by Act Cong. June 30, 1906 (U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1909, p. 1045).

"Article IV. If litigations and disputes should arise, between subjects of the Sublime Porte and citizens of the United States, the parties shall not be heard, nor shall judgment be pronounced unless the American dragoman be present. Causes, in which the sum may exceed five hundred piastres, shall be submitted to the Sublime Porte, to be decided according to the laws of equity and justice. Citizens of the United States of America, quietly pursuing their commerce, and not being charged or convicted of any crime or offense, shall not be molested; and even when they may have committed some offense, they shall not be arrested and put in prison, by the local authorities, but they shall be tried by their minister or consul, and punished according to their offense, following in this respect the usage observed towards other Franks."

The international court established in Egypt in 1876 took over some of the jurisdiction formerly exercised by the consular courts and remedied some of the evils in that form of jurisdiction. Mixed criminal cases, cases between citizens of different nations, still remain largely under the consular jurisdiction. The international tribunal may exercise "simple police" jurisdiction. Mixed civil causes were assigned for the most part to the international court. Three courts of the first instance, each consisting of four foreign and three native judges, and one court of appeal, consisting of seven foreign and four native judges, constituted the international courts.

APPOINTMENT AND RECEPTION OF CONSULS. 66. Consuls general and consuls are usually appointed by a commission or patent from the head of the state, which is communicated to the government where he is to reside. Vice and deputy consuls general and consuls are usually commissioned by the foreign secretary on recommendation of their chief.

Consular agents are similarly commissioned.

The authorization by which a consul is admitted to the performance of his functions by the foreign state is termed an "exequatur.”

A consular officer may be a citizen of the appointing state, or a citizen of receiving state, or of some other foreign state, though some states decline to receive their own citizens as con

8 66 British and Foreign State Papers, 593.