An ambassador enjoys unusual privileges from the time he enters until
the time he leaves the country where he is sent, and these we will now
briefly consider. They have been classified under the heads of
inviolability and exterritoriality, though they may be considered
together.
Inviolability means that “neither public authority nor private persons
can use any force or do any violence to him, without offending against
the law of nations”. Of course if he attempts any violence toward other
individuals he becomes amenable to the local authorities.
Exterritoriality means the right while sojourning in a foreign country
to remain subject to the laws of his own, in both criminal and civil
jurisdiction.
These privileges are granted because it is thought that an ambassador
cannot fully and freely represent his own country if he is liable to be
interfered with by the state to which he is accredited. When carried out
to their practical application some curious results are reached; for
instance—
1. These privileges extend to his goods and his lodgings. “His house is
a sanctuary—except in case of a gross crime—for himself and his
retinue”. His official papers and archives are inviolate. He cannot
shelter any fugitive from law, although even this—the right of
asylum—was at one time general.
2. The courtesy of exemption from taxation is usually extended to
ambassadors, as well as exemption from duties on all necessary articles
of his household.
3. Owing to the inviolability of his property it is hard to collect a
debt from an ambassador when he has a mind not to pay—a thing which has
happened more than once.
4. The right to his own form of worship is granted to an ambassador and
his retinue, even when his religion is not otherwise tolerated by the
laws of the land. In this latter case it is sometimes provided that it
must be simply “house worship—without bell, organ or other sign
indicating to passengers in the street that a chapel is near by”;—“a
native of the country cannot attend”, and the “chaplain must not appear
abroad in his canonicals”.
5. Exemptions from local jurisdiction apply to the secretary of
legation, the chaplain, physician, private secretary and even to
domestic servants. They apply even to domestic servants who are natives
of the country though in a limited degree.
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