CONSUL. A commercial agent appointed by a government to reside in a sea-port of 'a foreign country, and commissioned to watch over the commercial rights and privileges of the nation deputing him.
A vice-consul is one acting in the place of a consul.
Among the Romans, consuls were chief magie trates who were annually elected by the people, and were invested with powers and functions simi lar 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.
e. 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 Anc. 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.
2. As a general rule, consuls represent the subjects or citizens of their own nation not otherwise represented. Bee, Adm. 209 ; 1 Mas. C. C. 14; 3 Wheat. 435 ; 6 id. 152; 10 id. 66. Their duties and privileges are now generally limited, defined, and secured by com mercial treaties, or by the laws of the coun tries 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 if/ U.S. Stat. 909 ; 11 id. 723 ; Ware, Dist. Ct. 367.
3. American consuls are nominated by the president to the senate, and by the senate confirmed or rejected. U. S. Const. art. 2, sec. 2. Each consul and vice-consul is re quired, before he enters on the execution of his office, to give bond, with such sureties as shall• be approved by the secretary of state, in a sum not less than two thousand nor more than ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the true and faithful discharge of the duties of his office, and also for truly accounting for all moneys, goods; and effects which may come into his possession by virtue of the act of 14th April, 1792, which bond is to be 'lodged in the office of the secretary of state.
Act of April 14, 1792, sec. 6.
4. They have the power and are required to perform many duties in relation to the commerce of the United States and towards masters of ships, mariners, and other citi zens of the United States. Among these are the authority to receive protests or decla rations which captains, masters, crews, pas sengers, merchants, and others make relating to American commerce ; they are required to administer on the estate of American citi zens dying within their consulate 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 dis putes 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 Act of 14th April, • Act of 28th February, 1803, c. 62 ; Act of 20th July, 1840, c. 23. The consuls are also authorized to make cer tificates of certain facts in certain cases, Which receive faith and credit in the courts of the United States. 3 Sumn. C. C. 27. But these consular certificates are not to be re ceived in evidence, unless they are given in the performance of a consular function, 2 Cranch, 187 ; Paine, C. C. 594 ; 2 Wash. C. C. '478; 1 Litt. Ky. 71; nor are they evidence, between persons not parties or privies to the transaction, of any fact, unless, either ex pressly or impliedy, made so by statute. 2 Sumn. C. C. 055.
5. Their rights are to be protected agree ably to the laws of nations, and of the treaties made between the United States and the nation to which they are sent. They are entitled, by the act of 14th April, 1792, s. 4, to receive certain fees, which are there enumerated. And the consuls in certain •places, as London, Paris, and the Barbary 'States, receive, besides, a salary.