ALIEN). is a recognized officer of a foreign State, under the special protection of international law; he may raise the flag and place the arms of the United States over his gates and doors: and his official papers and archives are exempt from seizure and destruction. While these duties of consular officers pertain chiefly to commercial transactions, they are not limited to them. These officers as protectors and advisers of their countrymen present in foreign lands; they act as judges, notaries, administrators of interests and of all property of such as have no legal rep resentative; they have to prevent frauds on the revenue; to notice infractions of treaty lions relating to trade; to advise their Govern ment of new laws or regulations within their dis trict; to preserve the di4cipline of the commer cial marine: to guard seamen from oppression; to aid the destitute; and to make reports upon matters affecting commercial, industrial, finan cial, and agricffiturai pursuits." Some of the specific duties of consuls included under these general duties arc: in connection with their control of the shipping of their coun try, the arbitration of disputes between master and crew, the relief of destitute Seamen, the care of property of their countrymen in ease of ship wreck, etc., the issuing of passports, the authen tication of documents, and the certification of marriages, births, and deaths. The consuls of the United States are expressly prohibited from performing the marriage ceremony; but the statutes provide that when a marriage is duly solemnized in accordance with the law of the country in which the consul resides, the consul shall, upon proper application, issue a certificate of such solemnization, provided such persons would have been authorized to marry if residing in the District of Columbia, and the consul must forward a duplicate to the Department of State at Washington. Such a marriage is valid in the District of Columbia and in the Territories of the United States; but how far it is valid in the various States of the Union has not been judi cially determined.
Ministers and consuls of the United States in China, Siam. and Madagascar have the judicial powers which are bestowed upon them by Chap ter NLVII. of the Revised Statutes, including jurisdiction in minor criminal eases and in civil cases involving sums of $500 or less. The per sonnel of the consular courts is specially deter mined, varying with the country and the subject matter under dispute; thus, in capital eases it is provided that the consul must sit with four of his countrymen as his associates, and that their verdict must be approved by the Minister before conviction can be had : and in some countries provision is made for a consular mixed court consisting of natives of the country and of the United States. Consuls have the judicial powers
above referred to also in Turkey so far as relates to crimes and offenses of the citizens of the United States, and in civil cases where such powers are permitted by the laws of Turkey or its treaties with civilized nations or by its usages with the Franks or foreign Christian nations; and in Persia. as to suits and disputes between citizens of the United State-s. Special provisions exist granting special flowers to the consuls of the United States in the Barbary States, Muscat. Samoa, and in some other plares where treaty has provided for them. In China, Madagascar, Siam, Turkey, and other non-Christian countries the property of deceased persons, both real and personal, is administered under the probate juris diction of the consular courts of those countries. (The judicial powers of the United States Consul in Japan were terminated on July 17, 1899, by the treaty with Japan which took effect upon that date.) Provision is made for an appeal from the consular courts under certain conditions to the Minister, and to the circuit courts of the United States.
Various attempts have been made during re cent years to reorganize the consular service of the United States, but without success, and its consular system has rjanained practically unchanged since 1792. In 1895, and again in 1900, bills were introduced in Congress to provide a system by which persons shall be trained to the duties of the consular service, so that they shall be able to perform them in the best possible way at a reasonable expense to the Government. Fitness for the partienlar place, permanency of tenure, and promotion for effi ciency were the principles upon which the new system was to be based. \Vhile Congressional action has not been secured, a step in the direc tion indicated by these bills was taken by Presi dent Cleveland in 1895. when he issued an execu tive order providing for an examination, by a board of three persons to be designated by the Secretary of State. of applicants for certain places in the consular service.
Consult: Warden, On the Origin, Nature, Progress, and Influence of Consular Establish ments (Paris, 1S13) ; Tarring, British Consular Jurisdiction in the East (London, 1887) ; the Consular Regulations of 1S96 (United States Public Document, Washington, D. C.) ; House Report No. 562, Fifty-sixth Congress, First Ses sion; Senate Report No. 1202, Fifty-sixth Con gress, First Session.