CHAPTER I. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE NATURE AND DUTIES OF THE CONSULAR OFFICE. in the Constitu 1. THE word "consuls," as used in the Constitution Meaning of the of the United States, designates a class of public offi- term "consuls" cers appointed by their government to reside in tion of U. S. foreign countries, chiefly in seaports and other places of commerce, to exercise administrative and sometimes, in countries not Christian, judicial functions in regard to their countrymen who dwell or may happen to be in the country where they reside; to aid in the authentication of documents abroad, and, generally, to discharge such other duties as may be assigned to them by the laws and orders of their government. sular officers. 2. Accordingly, by various laws of the United Classes of conStates, duties are imposed and rights conferred on this description of public officers, under the names of consuls general, consuls, vice consuls, deputy consuls, commercial agents, vice commercial agents, and consular agents. It is provided by section thirty-one of the act of Congress approved August eighteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-six,2 that these official designations shall be deemed to have the respective meanings therein assigned to them, namely: "consul general," "consul," and "commercial agent," shall be taken to 1 Opinions of the Attorneys General, vol. vii. p. 248; 6 Wheaton, 168. * Statutes at Large, vol. i. pp. 52–65. 2 Application of gress to consular officers. denote full, principal, and permanent "consular officers," as distinguished from subordinates and substitutes; "deputy consul" and "consular agent" to denote "consular officers" subordinate to such principals, exercising the powers and performing the duties within the limits of their consulates or commercial agencies respectively—the former at the same ports or places, and the latter at ports or places different from those at which such principals are located respectively; and "vice consuls" and "vice commercial agents" to denote "consular officers" who shall be substituted, temporarily, to fill the places of "consuls general," "consuls," or "commercial agents," when they shall be temporarily absent or relieved from duty; and the term "consular officer" to include all such officers as are mentioned in the said section, and none others. 3. It is further provided by the same section that, acts of Con- in the construction and for the purposes of all other acts and parts of acts which shall remain in force after the act above mentioned may take effect, defining any of the powers, declaring any of the rights, prescribing any of the duties, or imposing any penalty or punishment for any act of omission or commission of any consul, commercial agent, vice consul, or vice commercial agent, or allowing or enjoining the performance of any act, matter, or thing, with or before any such officer, all such acts and parts of acts shall in all these several respects, so far as may be consistent with the subject-matter and context of the same and with the said act and the treaties of the United States, be deemed and taken to include and apply to all consular officers just as though all such officers were specifically named therein. 4. The important act of 1792 contains a declaratory provision, which is to be understood as implied in all other acts of Congress, as follows: "The specification of certain powers and duties, Specification of ***, to be exercised or performed by the consuls certain consular powers and and vice consuls of the United States, shall not be duties not to construed to the exclusion of others resulting from exclude others. the nature of their appointments, or any treaty or convention under which they may act." and duties, how So that the powers and duties of consuls, besides Consular funcbeing defined by acts of Congress, are indicated by tions, rights, general treaties and consular conventions entered indicated and into between the United States and other sovereign defined. powers; and also by the regulations prescribed by the President through the Department of State.2 5. Consuls possess, moreover, by the law of nations, International rights and privileges besides those which are granted law as affecting by conventions, or declared by legislative acts or by regulations.3 consuls. tended and re 6. Their privileges necessarily arise from the Consular privicharacter of their appointments; but they are not, leges, how exlike those of ambassadors and other public ministers, stricted. precisely defined by international law; and, consequently, they may be extended or limited among different nations, either by treaties or the legislative policy of those countries. Although the commissions Consular comwhich United States consuls receive from their gov- missions, how ernment are expressed in the same terms and confer stood. the same authority, yet, as the consular functions are to be exercised in a foreign country, and in accord 1 Statutes at Large, vol. i. p. 257. *Statutes at Large, vol. xi. p. 60; Opinion of Judge Sprague in the case of the United States v. Williams et al., MS. and Letter of the District Attorney of Massachusetts, Oct. 5, 1857. 3 Idem. to be under lar conventions. ance with an exequatur issued by its sovereign, they Effect of consu- may be more or less restricted. Whenever the immunities, rights, and duties of consuls are prescribed by mutual consular conventions, they are to be enjoyed or exercised in accordance with the stipulaConsular duties tions of such conventions. In countries with which in countries the United States have entered into no consular conU. S. have no vention, consular officers may discharge such duties as consular con- are allowed by common usage, or are not forbidden by with which the ventions. Duties of con stacles are in the laws of those countries; it being understood that such duties come within the general scope of official powers acknowledged by the commercial world; and usually they are permitted to exercise such privileges as are granted to foreign consuls by the United States within its own territory. 7. If the authorities of the places where consuls suls when ob- reside oppose any obstacles to their enjoyment of the terposed to the privileges which may have been accorded by conenjoyment of sular conventions, or which, founded on usage or their privi- reciprocity, may have been claimed by themselves, leges. Consuls not diplomatic offi cers. they should refer the subject to the legation, to which they are subordinate, of the United States residing in the country, and report the facts, together with their own proceedings, and transmit a copy of all their correspondence in relation to it, to the Department of State, and await instructions. In no case should they strike the consular flag or abandon their posts without the express permission of the Department. 8. Consuls in Christian countries are not, legally speaking, public ministers of the State to which they belong, though, having an official character, they are under a more special protection of international law than uncommissioned individuals. This protection they have a right to claim, both from the State which |