Affaires

In International Law. The title of a diplomatic representative or minister of an inferior grade, to whose care are confided the affairs of his nation. The term is usually applied to a secretary of legation or other person in charge of an embassy or legation during a vacancy in the office or temporary absence of the ambassador or minister. He has not the title of minister, and is generally introduced and admitted through a verbal presentation of the minister at his departure, or through letters of credence addressed to the minister of state of the court to which he is sent. He has the essential rights of a minister; 1 Kent 39, n.; Du Pont v. Pichon, 4 Dall. (U. S.) 321, 1 L. Ed. 851. The term charge des affaires is sometimes restricted to a charge d'affaires ad interim, who is not accredited from one Foreign Office to another, but who is merely in temporary charge of the affairs of the mission.