Disputes have frequently arisen among ministers of the same rank about prece dence. The rules by which it has at va rious times been endeavoured to settle the respective rank of the representative of each state, being founded on no solid principle, and not sanctioned by general acquiescence, it is unnecessary to men tion. A rule which has long been par tially adopted, may now be considered fully established: for at the Congress o.
Vienna, in 1815, it was agreed by the eight powers which signed the treaty of Paris, that ministers in each class shall take precedence among themselves, ac cording to the date of their official an nouncement at court, and that the order of signature of ministers to acts or treaties between several powers, that allow of the alternate, should be determined by lot. If the reader is curious to know wherein this precedence chiefly consists,—in what manner ministers are required to arrange themselves when they are standing up ; in what, when they sit round a table : what order it behoves them to observe when they are placed in a row ; what, when they walk in a line : how their rank is marked when their numbers are even ; how, when their numbers are odd—we must refer him to the Manuel Diplonsatique of the Baron Charles De Martens, chap. vi.
For further information on the subject of Ambassador, he may consult Wicque fort, De l'Ambo..ndeur ; Lea Causes cele bres du droit des Gene, by C. De Martens ; and the writers on the law of nations, par ticularly Vattel and G. F. Martens; and likewise the Cours de droit public, par Pinheiro-Ferreira.
The functions of permanent Ambassa dors, as above explained, appear to have originated in modern times. The am bassadors (wpial3ets) sent by the Greek states, and those sent by the Romans ( legati) or received by them, were limited to extraordinary occasions. Among the Romans, ambassadors were so often sent by foreign nations to them, and sent by the Romans to foreign states, that the law with respect to them (Jus Legationis; Livy, vi.
17) became in course of time well settled. Ambassadors to Rome were under the protection of the state, whether they came from a hostile or a friendly nation. Their reception and the length of their stay at Rome would of course depend on the nature of the relations between their state and Rome, and the objects of their mission. They were received by the Roman senate and transacted their business with that body. The senate appointed the ambassa dors who were sent from Rome to foreign states. The expenses of such ambassadors were paid by the Roman state, but the ambassadors were also entitled to make certain demands ftom the provincials in their progress through a Roman province. This privilege gave rise in the later part of the republic to the practice of the Roman libera legatio,' which was the term ap plied to the permission obtained from the senate by a senator to leave Rome for dis tant parts on his own business. It was called libera,' free, apparently because the Senator had merely the title of Legatos without the duty ; and it was called legatio' in respect of putting him on a like or similar footing with real legati as to the protection to his person and al lowances to be claimed in the provinces. This privilege was often abused, both as to the length of time for which it was obtained and otherwise. A Lex Julia (of the Dictator Csesar) limited the time to which these ' liberse legationes ' could be extended ; but it is an meorrect infer ence from a passage of Cicero (Ad Attic. ay. 11) to conclude that the law fixed five years : the period which was fixed by the law is not stated. The libera legatio' is mentioned in the Pandect (50, fit. 7, s. 14), whence we may con clude that the practice continued to the time of Justinian, though probably in some modified form.
The word legatus' is a participle from the verb lego,' and signifies a person who is commissioned or empowered to do certain things.