marriages, births, and deaths, among their countrymen, within their consulates; Of receiving the protests of masters of vessels, of granting passports, and of acting as depositaries of sundry ship's papers; Of reclaiming deserters from vessels, providing for destitute sailors, and discharging such as have been cruelly treated; Of acting on behalf of the owners of stranded vessels, and of administering on the personal property left within their consulates by deceased persons, where no legal representative is at hand. Our laws require masters of vessels, on entering a port for traffic, to lodge with the consul their registers, sea-letters and passports; and make it a consul's duty to send destitute seamen home at the public expense. Jurisdiction of Christendom. of In general, throughout Christian lands, the principle of the control of the laws and courts over foreigners consuls in and out with the exemption of certain privileged persons, is fully established. But as Christian states were reluctant to expose their subjects to the operation of outlandish law and judgments, they have secured extensively by treaty to their consuls, in Mohammedan and other non-Christian lands, the function of judging in civil and even in criminal cases, where their own countrymen are concerned. In such cases, according to the laws of France,* the consul is assisted by two French residents. "The Frank quarter of Smyrna is under the jurisdiction of European consuls, and all matters touching the rights of foreign residents fall under the exclusive cognizance of the respective consuls." By our treaty of 1834 with the Sultan of Muscat, our consuls there are exclusive judges of all disputes between American citizens, and by our treaty with China in 1844, American citizens committing crimes in China, are subject to be tried and punished only by the consul, or other public functionary, empowered so to act by our laws. Disputes, also, between citizens of the United States, or between them and other foreign residents, are not to be tried by the laws and courts of China, but in the former case come * Pardessus, Droit commercial, VI. 294, et seq. before our authorities, and in the other are to be regulated by treaties with the respective governments to which the other parties at law are subject. Similar arrangements have recently been made with Japan.* (§ 65.) per Consuls on exhibiting proof of their appointment receive an exequatur, or permission to discharge their Privileges and stafunctions within the limits prescribed, which tus of consuls. mission can be withdrawn for any misconduct. They have, during their term of office, according to the prevailing opinion, no special privileges beyond other foreigners, and are thus subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the country where they reside. They enjoy no inviolability of person, nor any immunity from jurisdiction, unless it be given to them by special treaty. Heffter, however (§ 244), makes the safe statement that they possess "that inviolability of person which renders it possible for them to perform their consular duties without personal hindrance." Vattel (II. 2, § 34) goes still farther. A sovereign, says he, by receiving the consul, “tacitly engages to allow him all the liberty and safety necessary in the proper discharge of his functions." His functions require that he be "independent of the ordinary criminal justice of the place where he resides," and "if he commit any crime, he is, from the respect due to his master, to be sent home." But the best authorities agree that it is at the option of a sovereign, whether the consul shall have the benefit of such comity or not,† and it seems inconsistent with modern ideas of the territorial jurisdiction of the sovereign, that a man who is very generally a merchant should be exempt from the law which applies to people of his class about him. Chancellor Kent. cites Warden, as producing authorities to show that in France 66 a consul cannot be prosecuted without the previous consent of his government;" but Fœlix sets the matter in the following light: that by a convention of France with Spain in 1769, the consuls of the latter, being Spanish subjects, obtained im * Comp. Kent, I. 45, Lect. II.; Wheaton El. II. 2, § 11. 170 THE FORMS AND AGENTS OF INTERCOURSE, ETC. § 96 munity from arrest, excepting for atrocious crime and for commercial obligations. This covered only "debts and other civil cases not implying crime or almost crime, and not growing out of their mercantile character." Since that time all other nations, with whom France has stipulated that their consuls shall be placed on the footing of the most favored nation, may claim the same immunity, "but with this exception, consuls, being foreign subjects, are to be treated in France like all other members of the same nation.' Although a consul has none of the privileges of an ambassador, yet an insult to his person, or an attack on his place of official business involves more of insult to his country than similar treatment of an ordinary stranger could do. He has in fact something of a representative character, and calls for the protection of his government in the exercise of his functions. Consuls in the Mohammedan countries, owing, perhaps, to the fact that formerly diplomatic intercourse passed to some extent through their hands, and to their official character of protectors of their countrymen in those lands, have nearly the same rights as ambassadors, including the right of worship, and in a degree that of asylum. Who may be consuls. By the practice of some nations, only a native can be employed to attend to the commercial interests of his country in foreign ports. The United States, however, have hitherto freely employed foreigners in that capacity, especially in ports where our own commerce is small. CHAPTER V. OF THE RIGHT OF CONTRACT AND ESPECIALLY OF TREATIES. § 97. pecially between A CONTRACT is one of the highest acts of human free will: it is the will binding itself in regard to the future, of contract, esand surrendering its right to change a certain ex- states. pressed intention, so that it becomes morally and jurally a wrong to act otherwise; it is the act of two parties in which each or one of the two conveys power over himself to the other in consideration of something done or to be done by the other. The binding force of contracts is to be deduced from the freedom and foresight of man, which would have almost no sphere in society, or power of co-operation, unless trust could be excited. Trust lies at the basis of society; society is essential for the development of the individual; the individual could not develop his free forethought, unless an acknowledged obligation made him sure in regard to the actions of others. That nations, as well as individuals, are bound by contract, will not be doubted when we remember that they have the same properties of free will and forecast; that they could have no safe intercourse otherwise, and could scarcely be sure of any settled relations toward one another except a state of war, and that thus a state of society, for which the portions of the world are destined would be impossible. We have already seen, that without this power a positive law of nations could not exist, which needs for its establishment the consent of all who are bound by its provisions. National contracts are even more solemn and sacred than private ones, on account of the great interests involved, of the deliberateness with which the obliga tions are assumed, of the permanence and generality of the obligations,-measured by the national life, and including thousands of particular cases,--and of each nation's calling, under God, to be a teacher of right to all within and without its borders. states make con tracts? Contracts can be made by states with individuals or bodies With whom can of individuals, or with other states. Contracts between states may be called conventions or treaties. Among the species of treaties those which put an end to a war and introduce a new state of intercourse, or treaties of peace, will be considered here, only so far as they partake of the general character of treaties: their relations to war will be considered in the chapter devoted to that subject. $ 98. Treaties, allowed under the law of nations, are unconLawful treaties, strained acts of independent powers, placing them under an obligation to do something which is not what? wrong, or 1. Treaties can be made only by the constituted authorities of nations, or by persons specially deputed by them for that purpose. An unauthorized agreement, or a sponsio, like that of the consul Postumius at the Caudine Forks, does not bind the sovereign,—it is held,-for the engager had no power to convey rights belonging to another.* And yet it may be morally wrong for the sovereign to violate such an engagement of a subordinate; for it might be an act of extreme necessity, to which the usual forms of governmental proceedings. would not apply. Again, from the nature of the case a faction, a province, or an integral part of a close confederation has no treaty-making power; although a loose confederation, like the Germanic, might exist, while conceding such a prerogative to its members. Individuals, or other dependent bodies, can make commercial arrangements with a foreign power, unless their laws forbid; but the arrangements apply to a particular case, and obligate none else; they are like any * Comp. Vattel, Book II. §§ 208–212. |