Consul

A commercial agent appointed by a government to reside in a seaport or other town of a foreign country, and commissioned to watch over the commercial rights and privileges of the nation deputing him. The term includes consuls-general and vice-consuls.

Rev. Stat. § 4130.

A vice-consul is one acting in the place of a consul. Among the Romans, consuls were chief magistrates who were annually elected by the people, and were Invested with powers and functions similar to those of kings. During the middle ages the term consul was sometimes applied to ordinary judges; and, In the Levant, maritime judges are yet called consuls.

1 Boulay Paty, Dr. Mar. tit.

Prcl. s.

2, p. 57.

Officers with powers and duties corresponding to those of modern consuls were employed by the ancient Athenians, who had them stationed in commercial ports with which they traded.

3 St. John, Mann, and Cus. of Auc. Greece 283.

They were appointed about the middle of the twelfth century by the maritime states of the Mediterranean; and their numbers have increased greatly with the extension of modern commerce. As a general rule, consuls represent the subjects or citizens of their own nation not otherwise represented; Bee 209; The London racket, 1 Mas. 14, Fed. Cas. No. 8,474; The Anne, 3 Wheat. (U. S.) 4:;.".. 4 L. Ed. 428; The Antelope, 10 Wheat (U. S.) 66, cured by commercial treaties, or by tbe laws of the countries they represent. They are not strictly judicial officers; 3 Taunt. 102; and have no judicial powers except those which may be conferred by treaty and statutes.

See The William Harris, Ware 367, Fed. Cas. No. 17,695; Dainese v. Hale, 91 U. S. 13, 23 L. Ed. 190.

American consuls are nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate. U. S. Const, art.

2, § 2.

Upon the exercise of this power of appointment by the president, congress can place no limitation; Foote v. U. S., 23 Ct. Cls. 443. The consular system was reorganized by Act of April 5, 1906. Seven classes of consuls-general were created with salaries running from $12,000 to $3,000; nine classes of consuls, with salaries running from $8,000 to $2,000. The offices of vice-consul-general, deputy-consul-general, vice-consul and deputy-consul were continued, and also consular agents. The office of commercial agent was abolished. No cdnsul-general, consul, or consular agent, receiving a salary of $1,000 or over shall transact business as a merchant, manufacturer, broker, or other trader, or as a clerk for such, within the limits of his jurisdiction, nor practice as a lawyer. They are required to perform many duties in relation to the commerce of the United States and towards masters of ships, mariners, and other citizens of the United States.

— Among these are the authority to receive protests or declarations which captains, masters, crews, passengers, merchants, and others make relating to American commerce; they are required to administer on the estates of American citizens dying within their consular jurisdiction and leaving no legal representatives, when the laws of the country permit it; see 2 Curt. Eccl. 241;

— to take charge of and secure the effects of stranded American vessels in the absence of the master, owner, or consignee;

— to settle disputes between masters of vessels and the mariners;

— to provide for destitute seamen within their consulate, and send them to the United States at the public expense.

See R. S. § 1674 et seq.

Also to hear complaints of ill-treatment of seamen; The Welhaven, 5>5 Fed. SO. The consuls are also authorized to make certificates of certain facts in certain cases, which receive faith and credit in the courts of the United States; Potter v. Ins. Co., 3 Sumn. 27, Fed. Cas. No. 11,335. But these consular certificates are not to be received in evidence, unless they are given in the performance of a consular function; Church v. Hubbart, 2 Cra. (U. S.) 187, 2 L. Ed. 249; Catlett v. Ins. Co., 1 Paine 594, Fed. Cas. No. 2,517; U. S. v. Mitchell, 2 Wash. C. C. 478, Fed. Cas. No. 15,791; Foster v. Davis, 1 Litt. (Ky.) 71; nor are they evidence, between persons not made so by statute; Levy v. Burley, 2 Sumn. 355, Fed. Cas. No. 8,300; Catlett v. Ins. Co., 1 Paine 594, Fed. Cas. No. 2,517; Brown v. The Independence, 2 Crabbe 54, Fed. Cas. No. 2,014. Their rights are to be protected agreeably to the laws of nations, and of the treaties made between the United States and the nation to which they are sent. A consul is liable for negligence or omission to perform seasonably the duties imposed upon him, or for any malversation or abuse of power, to any injured person, for all damages occasioned thereby; and for all malversation and corrupt conduct in office a consul is liable to indictment. Of foreign consuls. Before a consul can perform any duties in the United States, he must be recognized by the president of the United States, and have received his exequatur. A consul is clothed only with authority for commercial purposes; he has a right to interpose claims for the restitution of property belonging to the citizens of the country he represents; The Adolph, 1 Curt. 87, Fed. Cas. No. 86; The Loudon Packet, 1 Max. 14, Fed. Cas. No. 8,474; Gernon v. Cochran, Bee 209, Fed. Cas. No. 5,368; The Bello Corrunes, 6 Wheat. (U. S.) 152, 5 L. Ed. 229; but he is not to be considered as a minister or diplomatic agent, intrusted by virtue of his office to represent his country in negotiations with foreign states; The Anne, 3 Wheat. (U. S.) 435, 4 L. Ed. 428. They do not represent the country, but are subject to the laws of the country where they reside; U. S. v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U. S. 678, 18 Sup. Ct. 456, 42 L. Ed. 890. Consuls are generally invested with special privileges by local laws and usages, or by international compacts; but by the laws of nations they are not entitled to the peculiar immunities of ambassadors. In civil and criminal cases they are subject to the local laws, in the same manner with other foreign residents owing a temporary allegiance to the state; 1 Op. Atty. Gen. 45, 302; Com. v. Kosloff, 5 S. & R. (Pa.) 546; 3 M. & S. 2S4; U. S. v. Ravara, 2 Dall. (U. S.) 297, 1 L. Ed. 3S8; Hall, Int. L. 2S9; Wicquefort, De VAmbassadeur, liv.

1, § 5; Bynkershoek, cap. 10; Marten, Droit des Gens, liv. 4, c. 3, § 148.

R. S. § 687, gives to the supreme court original but not exclusive jurisdiction of all suits in which a consul or vice-consul shall be a party.

See Mannhardt v. Soderstrom, 1 Binn. (Pa.) 143; State v. De La Foret, 2 N. 6 M'C. (S. C.) 217; Hall v. Young, 3 Pick. (Mass.) 80, 15 Am. Dec. ISO; Sartori v. Hamilton, 13 N. J. L. 107; Valariuo v. Thompson, 7 N. Y. 576.

His functions may be suspended at any time by the government to which he is sent, made in his ofllcial capacity on account of his government; Jones v. Le Tombe, 3 Dall. (U. S.) 384, 1 L. Ed. 647. A vice-consul of a foreign nation, who possesses an unrevoked exequatur issued by the President of the United States, must still be recognized by the courts as the accredited representative of his country and entitled to all its privileges, although the government which Bent him has been overthrown and a revolutionary government established in its place; U. S. v. Trumbull, 4S Fed. 94. A consul general is a consul within an act concerning acknowledgments of real estate instruments; Linton v. Ins. Co., 104 Fed. 584, 44 C. C. A. 54.

See Consular Conns.