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The Future of the Consular Office

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Pitman B. Potter
Pitman B. Potter*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
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Extract

The consulate is an old and a dignified office. Through various vicissitudes the consul has come down to us from the days when, with the dawn of new courage and enterprise, the closing of the Middle Ages saw the revival of international trade and travel in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Hence the future of that office must be of considerable interest from an historical point of view, to say nothing of the interest which all of us who expect to do any foreign traveling ought to feel in the fate of the traveler's best friend. All of this is doubly true in view of the fact that serious changes in the consulate are in point of fact impending, or even taking place before we have had time to notice them.

Almost everyone who has even a slight acquaintance with the history of international relations is aware of the way in which the consular office has already lost much of its old standing through the abolition of privileges of extraterritoriality in modern states. Originally, the consul was a judge in many cases between citizens of the state which he represented who were permanently, or even only temporarily, residing abroad. Today in all Western states he has come to exercise judicial powers only with respect to seamen on vessels flying the flag of his appointing state. The result has been a great diminution of his powers and prestige, a change so pronounced and of such long standing that few nowadays appreciate the great dignity and influence of the consular office in its earlier history.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , May 1926 , pp. 284 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1926

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References

1 Potter, P. B., International Organization (rev. ed., 1925), Chap. VGoogle Scholar. Inasmuch as this paper is intended to be a study of a selected problem of international organization as it appears to the writer, references are made only to the writer's Introduction to the Study of International Organization for the setting of the problem, and to primary materials for the facts of the current situation.

2 Ibid., 69.

3 British and Foreign State Papers, Vol. LXXXVI, p. 39 Google Scholar, for British treaty; Treaties between the United States and other Parties, Vol. I, p. 1028 Google Scholar, for United States treaty.

4 Documents in British and Foreign State Papers, Vol. CII, p. 126, Vol. CVII, p. 750Google Scholar, and American Journal of International Law, Vol. XVI, Supp., p. 25 Google Scholar. See also Treaty of Versailles, Art. 135, and Treaty of St. Germain, Art. 110.

5 Treaty of Versailles, Art, 142; Treaty of St. Germain, Art. 97; for Morocco, same, Arts. 147, 102, and for Egypt, British Proclamation of 28 February, 1922.

6 Treaty of Lausanne (Turkey and Allied Powers), Art. 28; Treaty between Turkey and United States, Art. 2.

7 Resolution No. 4.

8 Potter, op. cit, pp. 69–70.

9 See the excellent description of this process in Jones, C. L., Consular Service of the United States, 59, 102–107 Google Scholar. Jones considers that the development of the commerce function increased the public character of the consul's position; but it is believed that reflection will show this to be a mistaken view.

10 State v. de la Foret, 1820, 2 Nott and McCord 217, and English cases there cited. In the course of its opinion in this case the court said of the consul: “He is no more than a commercial agent, attending to individual concerns.”

11 E.g., Clerq, and de Vallat, , Guide Pratique des Consulats, 1898, at § 3Google Scholar.

12 Potter, Chap. VI, pp. 75–76.

13 Aliens are now entirely barred from admission to the foreign service of the United States. Act of 24 May, 1924, Sec. 5.

14 See statistics in World Almanac, 1925, at 311, 718 Google Scholar, and in Whitaker's Almanac, 1924, at 514 Google Scholar.

15 Ibid.

16 For a statement of protection work of United States consuls, see United States Consular Regulations, 1924, Art. X.

17 Work on behalf of seamen: Regulations, Arts. XII–XVIII.

18 Work on administration of national legislation: Arts. XI, XX, XXII. From this point onward the “protection” work of the consul is intended to include the items mentioned in this paragraph.

19 See discussion in First Assembly of the League of Nations, Plenary Sessions, 9 Dec., 1920, of international control of raw materials; also W. S. Culbertson, International Economic Policies, Chap. I.

20 Hertslet, , Commercial Treaties, Vol. XXIII, p. 579 Google Scholar.

21 See for the United States, Foreign Service of the Department of Commerce, issued by the Department.

22 American Consular Service Bulletin, Vol. III, No. 3, p. 2, and Vol. VI, p. 242Google Scholar.

23 Regulations, Art. VII.

24 Compare consular convention in United States Statutes at Large, Vol. XXXVII, p. 1479 Google Scholar, with news item in New York Times, 1 January, 1922, p. 14 Google Scholar, where the connection between recognition of new governments and reception of diplomatic representatives is also brought out, still further confirming what is said in the text.

25 See discussion in In re Baiz, 1890, 135 U. S. 403.

26 United States Consul-General Wesley Frost, quoted in American Consular Bulletin, Vol. III, No. 4, 5 Google Scholar.

27 See remarks by ProfessorDe Visscher, quoted in New York Times, 17 August, 1924, p. 5 Google Scholar.

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