EXTERRITORIALITY. The fiction or rule of law by which certain classes of aliens in a country are more or less exempted from its juris diction, and are governed by the laws of their own country. The right to this exemption is not absolute, but arises from, and is made possible by, the comity of nations; and the reasons for its existence are to be found partly in the survival of ancient laws, partly in reasons of State, and partly in the purpose of protecting the citizens of civilized nations against the linsuitable laws of more barbarous countries.
Entrance into a country, ou which the privi leges of exterritoriality are based, may be sus pended or entirely refused (see ALIEN) ; as, for example, the entrance of a foreign sovereign or prince may be prohibited for reasons of State, or of foreign armed ships or armies.
The privileges arising from exterritoriality arc extended particularly to sovereigns, diplomatic agents, especially ambassadors and their suites, family, and servants, and to public armed vessels and armies in permitted transit. The person of a sovereign traveling in a foreign country is inviolate, and he is exempt from the law of the land: but he has no greater powers than he would have at home, and has no authority over any except his own subjects who form part of his suite, retinue, or servants. This privilege does not at any time extend, either in the case of sovereigns or any other, so as to exempt from the local laws any property, real n• personal, belonging to such person except the effects brought with him. Public armed vessels are to be distinguished from vessels of private citizens. Although the latter, so long as they are upon high seas. remain fully subject to the juris diction of their own country, whenever they enter within the waters of a foreign country they become, with all on board. subject to the laws of the country within whose waters they are as fully as if ashore. A public armed vessel, how ever, and vessels chartered to convey a sovereign or his representatives, continue subject, with their crews, to the law of their own country. When ashore the crew become subject to the local ad ministrative law, and if guilty of aggression or hostility can be arrested forcibly if necessary. and punished according to the law affecting the aggression committed. Such transgressions ex pose the guilty persons not only to arrest and trial. hut to complaint to their own sovereigns. The public vessel, however. may not exceed the privileges extended to it, on account of its char acter, and exercise other rights which it would have on the high seas, such as committing an act of war or the capture of foreign vessels while within the waters of a foreign State. The per
mission to an army to go through a foreign coun try carries with it the right to maintain its discipline, and do all other things connected with the passage of the troops which may be necessary to maintain the integrity of the army during its liassage. This may extend to the purchase of provisions, but will not excuse crimes or breaches of the public la W of the land. The permission is rarely extended, and when it is. it is usually by a treaty. The privileges extended to ambassadors and other diplomatic agents arise partly from the consideration that they are essential to the proper eonduet of the business intrusted to him and partly from considerations of respect to the for eign sovereignty represented. They begin when he enters the country and continue till his de parture, or until a reasonable opportunity for it has elapsed. For a discussion of them, see DIP LOMATIC AGENTS.
Analogous to these privileges arising out of the comity of nations are those which are secured by treaty for foreigners from Christian lands in cer tain Oriental countries, where the prevailing laws and usages are unlike those of Christendom, or are so barbarous that there is reason to fear that jus tice will not he done, or that it will be adminis tered in such a manner as not to protect life, limb, and property according to the standards of civilization existing in Christendom. Dy treaties between the United States and China, Korea, Borneo. Aladagasear, Persia, Turkey, Samoa, Siam, Zanzibar. and Tonga, the citizens of the United States are more or less fully exempted from local jurisdiction, and are allowed to re main under the jurisdiction of the United States. Formerly the United States had such a treaty with Japan, but upon the opening of that coun try to modern civilization the treaty was termi nated. (See CONSUL.) Exemption from ordinary harbor or port charges and from local jurisdic tion is also ordinarily accorded to vessels driven into foreign waters against the will of their mas ters, and they are allowed to depart unhindered. Consult: Woolsey, Introduction to the Study of International Lou, (7th ed.. New York, 1902) ; Phillimore, Commentaries on I n mut tiona Lam (London, 1389) ; and the authorities referred to under CONSUL, Al ERCANTILE ; DIPLOMATIC AGENTS: INTERNATIONAL LAW. etc.