sends and from the State which admits them. But they are not diplomatic representatives of their respective countries, nor entitled to the privileges and immunities accorded to such representatives.1

9. They are not, like public ministers, furnished Consular with credential letters, but simply with a commission quatur. which authorizes them to watch over the commercial rights and privileges of the nations deputing them." They cannot enter upon the discharge of their official duties without the permission of the sovereign authority of the country to which they are sent. This is given by an instrument which is termed an exequatur, and may at any time be revoked. time be revoked. As a general rule, consuls are amenable to the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the country in which they reside. In the United States the Supreme Court possesses original jurisdiction in all cases affecting consuls, and the Federal jurisdiction is understood to be exclusive of the State courts.*

3

ileges.

10. The privileges of consuls, so far as they are Consular privderived from the country in which they reside, are, generally speaking, an exemption from the liability to have soldiers quartered in their houses, and from personal service in the civic guards or militia. Some- Non-exemptimes, as a matter of courtesy, and not of right, they tion from taxaare exempted from the payment of a personal tax,

1 See section 212 of this volume, infra. Opinions of the Attorneys

General, vol. i. pp. 41 and 406.

2 Kent, Commentaries, vol. i. pp, 50-57.

Phillimore's Commentaries upon International Law, vol. ii. pp. 240, 241; Vattel, p. 147; Wheaton's Elements, p. 305.

* Statutes at Large, vol. i. p. 18, and note; also Kent, vol. i. p. 45. See also Opinion of Supreme Court of New York in the case of the Rock River Bank v. Hoffman et al., General Term, February, 1862, MS.

* De Martens, Le Guide Diplomatique, i. 388; Opinions of the Attorneys General, vol. ii. 725; Phillimore, vol. ii. pp. 240–251.

tion.

passports.

but not of other taxes, and more rarely from payment of duties at custom houses on their furniture and baggage. No foreign consul residing in England is exempted from direct taxation except the Russian consul general. In the United States no authority is given to the Treasury Department to exempt foreign consuls from the payment of custom house duties, and consequently the consuls of the United States in foreign countries cannot claim an exemption from the payIssue or visa of ment of similar duties. Consuls are usually allowed to grant or visa passports to the subjects or citizens of their own country living within their consular jurisdiction, but not to foreigners. But consuls of the United States in countries in which there is a resident minister are not permitted to issue passports. In most countries Assistance of consuls may require the assistance of the police, if police. necessary, to aid and assist them in the maintenance of their authority over insubordinate or mutinous seamen of their own country; generally, this is accorded by treaty stipulation; otherwise, it cannot be demanded as a matter of right, but only of comity.*

Access to the

ties.

3

11. In cases where the ambassadors or public minchief authori-isters of their own country are absent, or non-resident, they have a right of access to the authorities of the country in which they reside." But this is not universally admitted. Sometimes it is permitted as an act of courtesy, and sometimes it is limited to corre

1 Phillimore, vol. ii. p. 244.

2 Nature and Character of the Consular Service, by John Green. London, 1848, p. 21.

3 Phillimore, vol. ii. p. 245. See Chapter xxx., infra.

* De Martens, Droit des Gens. i. 251; Fynn's British Consul Abroad, p. 17; Statutes at Large, vol. x. pp. 904, 998, 999; and Treaties of the United States, passim.

5 Phillimore, vol. ii. p. 244.

spondence in regard to questions merely of a commer

cial character.1

ces.

offi

12. As a general rule, the records and papers of Immunities of the consulate are inviolable, and under no pretext to consular be seized or examined by the local authorities. But this rule is by no means universally admitted, and the exemption is more frequently granted by treaty stipulation. In Great Britain the consular property has been seized and held liable for the debt of a consul, for rent and taxes.*

nals.

13. Consuls established in the towns and seaports Subjection to of Europe are, in respect to civil matters, generally judicial tribusubject to the jurisdiction of the tribunals of the country in which they reside; and, of course, necessarily, in criminal cases. If they are in trade, they are treated, in questions relating thereto, on the same footing as all other merchants."

of

over

their fellow

14. The functions of consuls, in regard to their Authority fellow-citizens, depend, in a great measure, upon the consuls municipal law of their own country. No civil juris- citizens. diction can be exercised by them over their fellowcountrymen without express authority of law, or by treaty stipulation of the State wherein they reside; and no Christian State has yet permitted the criminal jurisdiction of foreign consuls.

15. The refusal to grant an exequatur or to receive Refusal of ex

1 See Despatches of Consuls of the United States in Germany and at Havana, MSS., passim.

2 Phillimore, vol. ii. p. 245.

3 See Consular Conventions of the United States with France and with the Netherlands. Statutes at Large, vol. x. pp. 992, 1150.

See Manchester Newspapers, 1858; also Guide Pratique par Le Clercq et De Vallat, p. 11.

5 Martens, quoted by John Green, p. 24; Kent's Commentaries, vol. i. p. 54.

equatur.

Foundation of

consular thority.

au

Exercise of ju

a foreign consul is no breach of strict international law, as the institution of the consulate is a result of international comity. In case of illegal or improper conduct, the consul is to be punished according to law, if the laws will reach the case, or be sent back; the offended government assigning to the other the reasons for the same.2

16. As a general rule, and in the absence of any treaty upon the subject, the consul looks for his authority and functions to the commission by which he is appointed to his office, to the exequatur which empowers him to exercise them, and to any modifications made applicable to them by the particular laws or customs of the country in which he resides."

17. In some places consuls have been invested with dicial powers. judicial powers to adjust disputes between merchants of their own country in foreign ports; this, however, is mostly limited to countries not Christian.*

Amenable

to 18. In the application of the general rules of law judicial tributo offences committed by consuls, nothing is better nals. settled by the practice of all the States of Christendom than the doctrine that consuls are subject to criminal process for violation of the municipal laws. A foreign consul therefore has no just cause of complaint if, when charged with an offence, he is held amenable to the criminal jurisdiction of the United

1 Phillimore, vol. ii. 245. See also Royal Order of Spain, 1845; and correspondence in regard to Consuls in Porto Rico, MS., 1845; also at Mauritius, 1852, at Genoa, 1853, MSS.; Kent, vol. i. p. 43.

2 Statutes at Large of the United States, vol. viii. p. 230; Wheaton's Elements, note, p. 167; Opinions of the Attorneys General, vol. ii. p. 725. See Ex. Doc. Senate, No. 80, 1st Sess. 34th Cong.; Kent, vol. i. p. 44. 3 De Martens, i. 260-5,

* See Statutes at Large, vol. xii. pp. 73, 79; Kent's Commentaries, vol. i. pp. 51, 57, notes; also, infra, chapters iii., iv., v., in regard to duties of consuls in China, Turkey, Japan, Siam, and other countries.

States. The only privilege which a consul enjoys in this respect in the United States is that awarded to him by the Constitution of being tried by the Federal courts; the effect of which is that his case remains within the control of the general government, which may deal with it according to the convenience or the exigencies of its foreign policy, without impediment from the authority of the individual States of the Union.1

19. In addition to the ordinary means of redress, Withdrawal of through the judicial tribunals, is that which is af- exequatur. forded by the law of nations. The sovereign authority of a State has the undoubted power, in its discretion, to withdraw the exequatur of any foreign consul. To justify the exercise of this power there is not needed the fact of technical violation of a law judicially proved. It may be exercised for any reasonable cause, whenever it is called for by the interest and honor of the nation.2

20. One of the first duties of all consular officers is Personal to exhibit in their official conduct, and in their inter- meanor. course with the local authorities and with the people of the country, a proper respect for the supreme authority.

tious.

de

21. In their communications with official function- Style of official aries, they are to be careful to set forth their views communicaand opinions courteously but firmly, avoiding in all cases the use of violent or intemperate language. All discussions extended beyond the limits of a just moderation are injurious and defeat their own object. 22. It is, by their personal influence and character, Influence by circumspect conduct and a conciliatory spirit, that personal char

1 Opinions of the Attorneys General, vol. vii. pp. 384, 385.

2 Idem, also section 15, supra.

acter.

of