CONSUL, the title borne by the highest of the ordinary magistrates of Rome during the republic. The consulship arose with the fall of the ancient monarchy (see ROME : History, ii.) . The deep-seated Roman reverence for the abstract conception of the magistracy, as expressed in the imperium and the auspicia, led to the preservation of the regal power in a qualified form. The two new officials who replaced the king bore the titles of leaders (praetores) and of judges (indices). But the new fact of colleagueship (collegium) caused a third title to pre vail, that of consules or "partners." This first example of the collegiate principle assumed the form familiar in the Roman com monwealth. Each of the pair of magistrates could act up to the full powers of the imperium; but the dissent of his colleague rendered his decision or his action null and void. At the same time the principle of a merely annual tenure of office was insisted on. The two magistrates at the close of their year of office were bound to transmit their power to successors ; and these successors, whom they nominated, were obliged to seek the suffrages of the people. The only body known to us as electing the consuls during the republican period was the comitia centuriata (see COMITIA). The consulate was originally confined to patricians. A struggle for office ensued between patricians and plebeians which was brought to an end by the Licinio-Sextian laws of 367 B.C., which enacted that one consul must be a plebeian (see PATRICIANS).
The executive power of the consuls was gradually limited (I) in jurisdiction, by the grant of appeal (provocatio), the growth of the praetorship and the publication of law (e.g., the XII. Tables) ; in administration, by the appointment of the tribunes of the plebs and the creation of new magistrates (censor in 443, curule aediles in 367 B.c.) to take over parts of their functions. The result of these limitations and of this specialization of func tions in the community was to leave the consuls with less specific duties at home than any magistrates in the State. But this may be of itself a sign of a general duty of supervision. The consuls were in a very real sense the heads of the State. They exercised control in concert with the senate, whose chief servants they were. They were the most regular consultants of this council, they formulated its decrees as edicts, and they brought before the people legislative measures which the senate had approved. ,They also represented the State to the outer world and introduced foreign envoys to the senate. The consulate was, as Cicero expresses it, the cul minating point in an official career. The consuls retained certain powers of jurisdiction. This jurisdiction was either (I) adminis trative or (2) criminal. (I) Their administrative jurisdiction was concerned with financial matters such as claims made by the State and by individuals against one another, when the censors were not in office, and with disputes about property between the cities of Italy. (2) Their criminal jurisdiction was of three kinds. In the first place, it was their duty to set in motion the criminal law for ordinary, as opposed to political crimes. The reference of such cases to the assembly of the people was effected through their quaestors (see QUAESTOR). Secondly, when the people and senate, or the senate alone, appointed a special commission (see SENATE), the commissioner named was often a consul. Thirdly, we find the consul conducting a criminal enquiry raised by a point of international law. It is possible that in this case his advising body (consiliurn) was composed of the fetiales (see HERALD, ad fin) .
The consuls were recognized as the heads of the administration abroad as well as at home. It thus became necessary that depart ments of administration (provinciae) should be determined and assigned. The method of assignment varied. Foreign wars of ten demanded the attention of both consuls. In this case the regular army of four legions was usually divided between them. When it was necessary that both armies should co-operate, the principle of rotation was adopted, each consul having the command for a single day—a practice which may be illustrated by the events preceding the battle of Cannae (Polybius iii. I 1 o ; Livy xxii. 41) . During the great period of conquest from 264 to 146 B.C. Italy was generally one of the consular "provinces," some foreign country the other; and when at the close of this period Italy was at peace, this distinction approximated to one between civil and military command. The consuls settled their departments by agreement or by lot (comparatio, sortitio) ; the power of declaring what should be the consular provinciae was usurped by the senate (see SENATE). But the home officials invested with the imperium proved insufficient for the military needs of the empire, and the system of prolonging the command (prorogatio imperii) grew up (see PROVINCE). The ex-magistrates after their year of office began to go abroad to undertake a year of provincial government and, in some special cases, appointments were made by law for longer periods. Technically the provinces might still be consular, actually they were proconsular. The Lex Pompeia, 52 B.C., estab lished a five years' interval between home and foreign command.
Since the theory of the persistence of the republican consti tution was of the essence of the principate, the consuls necessarily lost little of their outward position and dignity under the rule of the Caesars. In the interval between the death or deposition of one princeps and the appointment of another the consuls resumed their normal position as the heads of the State. As the presidents of the senate, who after A.D. 14 elected them to their office, they directed that high criminal jurisdiction which the senate of this period assumed (see SENATE). A restored power of jurisdiction is indeed one of the features of their position during this time, and it is probable that the civil appeals which came to the senate were delegated to the consuls. They acted for a time as delegates to the princeps in matters of chancery jurisdiction such as trusts and guardianship. The consulship was also a prepa ration for certain commands abroad, and for the praefecture of the city. The tenure of the office was progressively shortened. In the early principate the consuls held office for six months, later for four to two months. The consuls appointed for Jan. I were called ordinarii, the others su ff ecti; and the whole year was dated by the names of the former. This distinction continued in the empire of Diocletian and Constantine. The ordinarii were nominated by the emperor, the su ff ecti by the senate, and their appointment was ratified by the emperor. The consulship was still the greatest dignity which the empire had to bestow; and the pomp and Cere mony of the office increased in proportion to the decline in its actual power. The entry of the consuls into office was celebrated by a great procession, by games given to the people and by a distribution of gifts. But the senate, over which they presided, was little more than the municipal council of Rome; and the justice which they meted out had dwindled down to formal and uncontested acts. The last consul born in a private station was Basilius in the East in A.D. 541. But the emperors continued to bear the title for some time longer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht, ii., pp. 74--14o Bibliography.-Mommsen, Romisches Staatsrecht, ii., pp. 74--14o (1887) ; Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyklopiidie, iv., 1,112 et seq. (new ed., Stuttgart, 1893) ; Greenidge, Roman Public Life (19o1) ; J. E. Sandys, Companion to Latin Studies (1921) with useful bibliography; W. E. Heitland, Roman Republic (1923) .
A consul is a public officer authorized by the State whose corn mission he bears to protect the interests and to foster the commer cial affairs of its subjects in a foreign country, and formally per mitted by the Government of the country wherein he resides to perform the duties which are specified in his commission. (For the ancient magisterial office of consul see above.) A consul, as such, is not invested with any diplomatic char acter, and he cannot enter on his official duties until permission in the form of an exequatur has been granted to him by the authorities of the State to which his nomination has been corn municated by his own Government. This exequatur may be re voked at any time at the discretion of the Government where he resides. The status of consuls commissioned by the Christian Powers to reside in certain oriental countries, and to exercise judicial functions in civil and criminal matters between their own countrymen and strangers, is exceptional to the common law, and has been founded on special conventions or capitulations (q.v.).
History.—The title of consul, in the sense in which it is used in international law, is derived from that of certain magistrates in the cities of mediaeval Italy, Provence and Languedoc, charged with the settlement of trade disputes whether by sea or land (con sules mercatorum, consules artis maris, etc.). With the growth of trade it early became convenient to appoint agents with simi lar powers in foreign parts, and these often, though not invari ably, were styled consuls (consules in partibus ultramarinis). It was not till the beginning of the r 9th century, that the system developed universally. Hitherto consuls had, for the most part, been business men with no special qualification as regards train ing; but the French system, under which the consular service had been long established as part of the general civil service of the country—a system that had survived the Revolution un changed—was gradually adopted by other nations; though, as in France, consuls not belonging to the regular service, and having an inferior status, continued to be appointed. In Great Britain the consular service was organized in 1825; in France the series of ordinances and laws by which its modern constitution was fixed began in 1833. In Germany progress was at first hindered by the political conditions of the country under the old Confederation, but a well organized consular system followed the establishment of the united empire. The functions, duties and privileges of French and German consuls do not differ materially from those of British consuls; but there is a great difference in the organiza tion and personnel of the various consular services. In France, Germany, Italy, the United States, Japan, Belgium and other countries, members of the consular and diplomatic services are interchangeable; in Great Britain, although the entrance examina tion is practically the same, the consular and diplomatic services are still entirely separate. It was France which led the way in amalgamating these two services, by decrees of July ro, 188o, and April 27, 1883, and other countries have gradually followed her example.
Few countries can afford the cost of career officers at every consular post, and the corps of career officials is therefore supple mented by honorary officers, usually residents engaged in trade, who are citizens of the country which nominates them, or in which they reside.
Privilege.—Whereas diplomatic privileges and immunities are clearly defined, those to be enjoyed by consuls are not yet estab lished, and considerable difference of opinion exists on the sub ject. France on the one hand has negotiated many consular con ventions; Great Britain, on the other, has always refused to be a party to one. The right to establish consuls is now universally recognized by Christian civilized States. Jurists at one time con tended that according to international law a right of "ex-terri toriality" attached to consuls, their persons and dwellings being sacred, and themselves amenable to local authority only in cases of strong suspicion on political grounds. Apart from treaty and convention, custom has established very few consular privileges, and the loth century view is that perhaps consuls may be ar rested and incarcerated, not merely on criminal charges, but for civil debt; and that, if they engage in trade or become the owners of immovable property, their persons certainly lose protection. This question of arrest has been frequently raised in Europe:— In the case of Barbuit, a tallow-chandler, who from 1717 to 1735 acted as Prussian consul in London, and to whom the exemption conferred by statute on ambassadors was held not to apply; in the case of Cretico, the Turkish consul in London in r 8o8 ; in the case of Begley, the United States consul at Genoa, arrested in Paris in 184o; and in the case of De la Fuente Hermosa, Uru guayan consul, whom the Cour Royale of Paris in 1842 held liable to arrest for debt. In the same way consuls are often exempt from all kinds of rates and taxes, and always from personal taxes. They are exempt from billeting and military service, but are not entitled (except in the Levant, where also freedom from arrest and trial is the rule), to have pnvate chapels in their houses. The right of consuls to exhibit their national arms and flag over the i door of the consular office is not disputed, and the inviolability of consular archives is generally admitted.
Until the year 1825 British consuls were usually merchants en gaged in trade in the foreign countries in which they acted as consuls, and their remuneration consisted entirely of fees. An act of that year, however, organized the consular service as a branch of the civil service, with payment by a fixed salary in stead of by fees; consuls were forbidden also to engage in trade, and the management of the service was put under the control of a separate department of the Foreign Office, created for the pur pose. The restriction as to engaging in trade was withdrawn in 1832, except for salaried members of the British consular service. Since then, and especially as the result of the reorganiza tion of the consular service, consequent on the recommendations as to the creation of new posts, training, pay and allowances made by Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland in 1919, the service has become a first-class one, and its members are recruited from the same ex amination as the higher division of the home civil service, the Foreign Office and diplomatic service, and the Indian civil service. (See CIVIL SERVICE.) It is now grouped in three divisions, (1) the general service, (2) the Levant, (3) the Far East (China, Japan and Siam) .
At posts where the cost of living is very high, local allowances are granted in addition.
Routine.—The routine duties of a British consul are very varied; his chief work is connected wiL.h shipping, commercial, political, judicial and notarial matters. Under the Merchant Ship ping Acts of 1894 and 1906, British consuls have certain statu tory duties and powers relating mainly to the welfare of the crew and to discipline on board. At a foreign port engagements and discharges of seamen have to be sanctioned by the consul, who arranges suitable hospital treatment for sick seamen, and takes charge of their wages. The consul also provides for the subsist ence of seamen who are shipwrecked or left behind; they are generally sent home in the first British ship. Complaints by crews as to their treatment on board are investigated by the con sul, who enters a statement in the log book and reports to the Board of Trade. When an offence has been committed on the high seas by British seamen, the consul may make inquiry on oath and send home the offender and the witnesses. In certain cases, a consul can summon a naval court to deal with a grave offence or casualty, but the procedure is cumbersome, and effect cannot always be given to the findings. Naval courts are now rarely called. The master of every British ship, not carrying pas sengers, is obliged to deposit at the consular office at a port where there is a British consul the copy of the articles of agreement with the crew, if the ship remains 48 hours in port. It has been the aim of the British Government to reduce consular formalities in connection with shipping to a minimum, and foreign ships, as well as British, are saved time and money by this enlightened policy.
Having regard to the great importance attached to the com mercial duties of a British consul and as the result of a recom• mendation contained in the majority report of a committee set up in 1919, under the chairmanship of Lord Cave, to examine the question of Government machinery for dealing with trade and commerce, the Consular department of the Foreign Office, which is responsible for the administration of the consular service, was placed under the administrative control of the department of Overseas Trade, a joint department of the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade. This department is also authorized to com municate with, and give instructions to, consuls on all questions relating to commercial intelligence and the development of Brit ish overseas trade. Consuls report direct to the department of Overseas Trade on commercial matters, and they are also, as regards the commercial side of their work, under the general supervision of the commercial diplomatic officer attached to the embassy or legation to the country in which they are stationed. By this co-operation of the consular and commercial diplomatic services a net-work of Government commercial representatives is thrown over the majority of foreign countries. Thus suitable prominence is given to this side of a consul's duties, and pro ficiency in this respect is now an important factor in deciding upon claims for promotion.
It is the duty of a consul to deal to the best of his ability with all questions on commercial subjects addressed to him not only by the departments at home but also by individual British traders. He is expected also to furnish on his own initiative re ports on matters of commercial interest. In addition to such important questions as tariffs, customs regulations, patents, regu lations respecting commercial travellers and their samples, forma tion of industrial syndicates, legislation regarding transport, or ganization of international exhibitions and fairs, aerial naviga tion, labour legislation, crops and fishery matters, the consul is expected to report regularly on changes in the general financial and other conditions affecting local trade and industry; openings for the sale of British goods and effects of foreign competition; the development and organization of local industry, trade, finance, public utilities and means of transport ; and the development of local export trade in raw materials.
The furnishing of reports on individual trades or industries is amongst the most important of '.he consul's duties, and necessi tates making exhaustive and at times difficult enquiries into the extent of the demand for the particular goods in question, the nature of foreign and local competition, the buying methods of local purchasers and the selling methods of competitors, as well as into such cognate subjects as suitable packing, distribution of trade literature, advertising and transport. The consul has also to report, so soon as it comes to his notice, any specific opening for the introduction of British manufactures, such for instance, as a public works contract. Another matter of great importance to the British manufacturer at home is the knowledge of new sources of supply of raw materials for use in industry, and the consul must watch developments in this direction.
A consul may be called upon, in connection with his commer cial work, to answer inquiries of the nature outlined above re ceived from firms in the British dominions or from the Trade Commissioners of any dominion Government. It is, in fact, the function of a consul to help British trade within his area in every way in which he properly can.
Political and judicial duties form a large part of the work of the Levant and Far East consular services.
The consul acts as a notary public ; he draws up marine and commercial protests, attests documents, draws up wills, and pow ers of attorney. He celebrates marriages, or witnesses marriages performed by a local authority, and, if required, reads the burial service when the ministrations of a clergyman cannot be obtained. He gives advice to British subjects of whatever race, issues pass ports, and at most posts keeps a register of British residents. A system of inspection was inaugurated in 1913, and developed after the World War. This work is carried out by a corps of four inspector-generals, whose duty it is to visit consular posts all over the world, furnish reports and make recommendations as regards personnel, work and conditions, to the Consular de partment of the Foreign Office.
After the War of the Revolution, the United States appointed unpaid consuls from among American merchants residing abroad. This system worked badly and although the consular system was established by acts of Congress in 1790 and 1792, it was not until 1856 that the organization of the service was effected in a satis factory manner. By a law passed by Congress in that year the service was reduced to a regular system similar to the British consular service. Salaries were fixed and the relations between official and business duties were clearly defined. The appointment of consular officers was placed in the hands of the President.
The consular service continued to operate under this law until the Rogers Act was passed in 1924, when complete re-organization of the diplomatic and consular services was effected, the two being merged in the "Foreign Service of the United States." Although these services had been on a civil service basis for almost two decades there was much criticism regarding salaries, promotions, interchangeability of position between the two serv ices, and retirement provisions.
The new act took cognizance of rewards for meritorious service, the admission of persons not possessing independent means, the development of a schedule of advancement whereby an official of the consular service may rise to the rank of a minister, the adoption of an adequate pension and retirement system, and the principle of the interchangeability of diplomatic and consular posts. The old classes were abolished and all officials below the rank of minister were designated as Foreign Service officers. Nine new classes were created with salaries ranging from $9,00o a year in class one, down to $3,000 a year in class nine. Unclassified subordinates draw salaries of $3,000 or less.
Only those who pass a satisfactory examination and serve a probationary period, or who may be transferred after a period of five years continuous service in the Department of State, are eligible for appointment in the Foreign Service. The Secretary of State refers to the President matters relating to applicants and promotions. Although "representation allowances" may be granted by the President, Ambassadors and Ministers receive no increase in salaries, which are fixed at $7,500 and $IO,Ooo (with a maximum of $12,000) respectively. A board dealing with all matters relating to personnel and a Foreign Service school, which provides for one year of instruction, were established in 1924.
The duties of the American consuls include discharge and relief of seamen of American vessels; issuing and viseing of passports; settlement of estates of American citizens who may die intestate in foreign countries; issuance of bills of health certifying to the sanitary condition of passengers, cargo and crew of vessels clearing from foreign ports for ports of the United States; and certification of invoices on dutiable merchandise for export to the United States.
The solemnization of marriages is not permitted by consuls but they may be witnesses thereto. Consular officers in China, Morocco, Maskat, Siam, Persia, Zanzibar and Tripoli are invested with judicial powers. The exemptions and privileges of consular officers depend largely upon the treaties existing between the United States and the countries to which they are credited.
The duties of consular officers with respect to the development of American foreign trade are of comparatively recent origin but of great importance today. Every member of the service is expected to have accurate and full knowledge of all conditions affecting trade and industry in the community to which he is accredited. He reports to the government new markets for Ameri can manufactures and notes all developments. Much of this information is published in Commerce Reports, issued weekly. On the basis of this material monthly and yearly studies of trade are compiled and are issued by the government under the name of Monthly Consular Reports and Commercial Relations. For special manufactures, at the suggestion of individuals or firms seeking information, independent studies are made by consuls and printed in separate form.
The edition of 1494, which is justly regarded as the editio princeps of the Book of the Consulate, contains (I) a code of procedure issued by the kings of Aragon for the guidance of the courts of the consuls of the sea, (2) a collection of ancient cus toms of the sea and (3) a body of ordinances for the government of cruisers of war. A colophon at the end states that "the book commonly called the Book of the Consulate ends here"; after which there follows The Acceptations, which purports to record that the previous chapters and ordinances had been approved by the Roman people in the th century, and by various princes and peoples in the i2th and i3th centuries, but this document clearly has no proper reference to the Book of the Consulate, and is, in fact, of no historical value whatsoever. The remainder of the volume consists of what may be regarded as an appendix to the original Book of the Consulate. This appendix contains various maritime ordinances of the kings of Aragon and of the councillors of the city of Barcelona, ranging over a period from 134o to 1484.
An excellent translation into French of "The Customs of the Sea," which are the most valuable portion of the Book of the Consulate, was published by Pardessus in the second volume of his Collection des lois maritimes (1834), under the title of "La Compilation connue sous le nom de consulat de la mer." See in troduction, by Sir Travers Twiss, to the Black Book of the Ad miralty (London, 1874), which in the appendix to vol. iii. con tains his translation of "The Customs of the Sea," with the Catalan text.