CAPITULATIONS, treaties granted by a state and con ferring the privilege of extra-territorial jurisdiction within its boundaries on the subjects of another state. In the 9th century the caliph Harun-al-Rashid granted guarantees and commercial facili ties to the Franks. Similar concessions were made to certain Italian city states. Thus, in 1o98, the prince of Antioch granted a charter of this nature to Genoa ; the king of Jerusalem to Venice in 1123 and to Marseilles in 1136. Salah-ud-din (Saladin), sultan of Babylon (Cairo), granted a charter to the town of Pisa in 1173. The Byzantine emperors followed this example, and Genoa, Pisa and Venice all obtained capitulations. The explanation of the practice is to be found in the fact that the sovereignty of the state was held to apply only to its subjects. The privilege of citizenship was too precious to be extended to the alien, who was long practically an outlaw. But when the numbers, wealth and power of foreigners residing within the state became too great, it was found to be politic to subject them to some law, and it was held that this law should be their own. Under the Ottoman sultans the system already in existence was continued. The first capitulations concluded with a foreign state were those of 1S36 granted to the French. They amounted to a treaty of commerce and a treaty allowing the establishment of Frenchmen in Turkey and fixing the jurisdiction to be exercised over them; individual and religious liberty was guaranteed to them, the king of France being empowered to appoint consuls in Turkey, the consuls being competent to judge the civil and criminal affairs of French subjects in Turkey according to French law, and to appeal to the officers of the sultan for their aid in the execution of their sen tences. All subsequent capitulations followed this model. The capitulations were at first held to be in force only during the life time of the sultan by whom they were granted; thus in 1569 Sultan Selim II. renewed the French capitulations granted by his predecessor. In 1583 England obtained her first capitulation, until which time France had been the official protector of all Europeans established in Turkey. Later on, England claimed to protect the subjects of other nations, a claim rejected in the French capitulations of 1597, 1604 and 1607, the last-named of which explicitly laid down that the subjects of all nations not represented at Constantinople by an ambassador should be under French protection. In 1613 Holland obtained her first capitula tion. In 1673 the French succeeded in obtaining the renewal of the capitulations which had remained unconfirmed since 1607. Louis XIV. had been anxious to secure the protectorate of all Catholics in Turkey, but was obliged to content himself with the recognition of his right to protect all Latins of non-Turkish na tionality; his claim for the restoration to the Catholics of the holy usurped by the Greeks was also rejected, the sultan only undertaking to promise to restore their churches to the Jesuit Capuchins. Later, France's friendship secured for Turkey a successful negotiation of the peace of Belgrade in 1739, and the result was the capitulation of 1740; this was no longer limited in duration to the sultan's lifetime but was in perpetuity, and could not be modified without the assent of the French. It con ferred on the French ambassador precedence over his colleagues. Austria had obtained capitulations in 1718, modified in 1784 ; Russia secured similar privileges in 1784. In the course of the 18th century nearly every European power obtained capitulations, and such newly-established countries as the United States of America, Belgium and Greece, followed in the 19th century.
The post-War position of capitulations may be briefly stated. Capitulations are still in force in Abyssinia, China, Egypt and Morocco; they may be said to exist in Bulgaria, as Art. 175 of the Treaty of Neuilly provides that the immunities and privileges of foreigners as well as the rights of jurisdiction and of consular protection enjoyed by the Allied and Associated Powers in Bul garia by virtue of the capitulations, usages and treaties, may form the subject of special conventions between each of the Allied and Associated Powers and Bulgaria; Great Britain pos sesses extra-territorial jurisdiction in Bahrein, Kuwait and Mus cat. The capitulations still in force may be thus summarized according to countries.
Abyssinia.—The provisions of the Klobukowski Treaty of 1908 by which France was accorded consular jurisdiction in Abyssinia are applicable to all countries diplomatically repre sented in Abyssinia.
China.—Extra-territoriat jurisdiction is enjoyed by Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
The Chinese do not recognize Chile's right to extra-territorial privileges and assert that the Japanese treaties, under which Japanese subjects enjoy extra-territorial rights in China have expired, though no steps have actually been taken to assume jurisdiction over Japanese subjects in China.
Belgium has agreed to Belgian subjects being amenable to Chinese jurisdiction as soon as the majority of the Powers now possessing extra-territorial privileges in China have agreed to relinquish them.
Italy, Denmark, Portugal and Spain have, by treaties, Nov. and Dec., 1928 agreed to their nationals being amenable to Chinese jurisdiction when all the Powers signatory to the Washington treaties of 1922 have agreed to abolition of extra-territoriality.
Egypt.—Capitulatory rights are possessed by Belgium, Den mark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Rumania has limited capitulatory rights.
Morocco.—Great Britain and the United States of America retain capitulatory rights in the French zone; and the United States in the Tangier zone. In the Spanish zone Great Britain, Japan and the United States of America retain these rights.
Since 1911 capitulatory rights have been abandoned in very many countries but in one instance alone—Tripolitania—were such rights relinquished prior to the World War. The following summary shows the extent to which capitulations have been abandoned since 191I : Albania.—By Great Britain, Feb. 6, 1926.
China.—By Austria, Germany and the Soviet Union. Extra territorial rights have also been lost by the subjects or citizens of the Succession States (Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc.) formed from the dissolution of Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires.
Egypt.—By Austria, Germany and Hungary. By Persia in 1928.
Greece.—By Great Britain, in territories acquired by Greece after the Balkan Wars 1912-13, as a result of an agreement embodied in notes of August 25 and September i, 1914. Morocco.—In the French zone by Belgium, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. In the Spanish zone by Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Nether lands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland. Aus tria, by Articles 96-98 of the Treaty of St. Germain, September 1o, 1919; Germany by Articles 141-143 of the Treaty of Ver sailles, June 28, 1919; Hungary by Articles 8o-82 of the Treaty of Trianon, June 4, 192o have renounced their capitulatory rights.
In the Tangier zone, by Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
Persia.—The capitulations, in respect of those Powers still pos sessing Capitulatory Rights, were abolished as May io, 1928.