File 868/1904 Pt 1 'Consular: Exemption of Foreign Consular Officers from Imperial and Municipal Taxation' [‎173r] (45/113)

At Stettin, however, a distinction as to (a) appears to be made, as u Consoles
Missi ’ are sometimes invited to ceremonies to which “Consoles Electi ” are not.
The difference made between the two categories of Consular officers is very marked
at Hambuig, where Consoles Missi ” are treated in a semi-diplomatic manner in certain
respects. It will be remembered, however, that the foreign Great Poweis used to have
Diplomatic Ministers accredited to that State (such as the Russian Government still has
there, as well as the Kingdom of Prussia); for a long time past they have only had
Consols-General (except Russia). It is for this reason, no doubt, that the State of
Hamburg accords the British Consul-General and some others special favours (see Sir TV.
Ward’s Memorandum, Annex No. 4).
It will also be seen in those statements that in the Kingdom of Prussia foreign
Consular officials appear to be treated in much the same way as the foreign Consular Corps
is tieatcd in Gieat Biitain, seeing that at the capital, Berlin, they are not invited to anv
great public functions or festivities (even municipal ones), while in the Provinces, at towns
like Stettin and Dantzig, they are so invited.
J he special cases of certain British Consular officers that have occurred in recent
years in Prussia with regard to their rights and immunities are mentioned in Part IV.
Part II. 'I he Rights of Foreign Consular Officers in Germany,
1 here is no general body of Laws, or even of Regulations, issued by the Imperial
Government dealing with the position and immunities of foreign Consuls in the German
empire, whether “ de carriere ” or not (?.e., whether “Consuls Missi” or “Electi”).
The rights, therefore, of the foreign Consular officers resident in Germany are deter
mined by:— . J
(a.) Any provisions existing in general Imperial Laws.
(&.) Special stipulations in German Treaties.
(c.) Local Laws or Regulations of the Federated States.
(d.) General custom.
As to (a). Provisions under Imperial Laws.
The law dealing with the quartering of troops, &c., of the 25th June, 1868, in § 4
(latter part of No. 1), provides that, subject to the prerequisition of reciprocity, the
dwellings of the “Consuls de Carri&re ” (“ Berufskonsuln ”), who are subjects of the
Powers they represent, and who carry on no business and possess no landed property in-
the place of their residence, are freed from having soldiers, &c., billeted upon them.
(J\ote. I he same law exempts all dwellings of foreign Envoys, and also of their
staffs, from such services.)
Under § 21 of the “ Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz ” of the 27th January, 1877 (a law
providing for uniform legislation in the German Empire), it is particularly stated that
Consuls in Germany are subject to German laws (jurisdiction) unless there are special
stipulations to the contrary existing in Treaties with foreign Powers as to their being freed
therefrom.
Finally, a Decision of the Bundesrath of the 28th May, 1883, provides that
emblems (coats of arms, flags, wafers, &c\, but not official forms, cases for papers,
ledgers, Sic.) that are sent to foreign Consular Representatives in Germany, for the purpose
of representing their Governments, are exempted from import duty.
These are the only provisions, under Imperial Laws or Bundesrath Decisions, affecting
the position of foreign Consuls in the German Empire.
As to (b). Provisions under Treaty Arrangements.
1. Great Britain.
Seeing that the British Government at the present time (June 1903) have neither a
Consular Convention nor a General T reaty of any kind with the Imperial Government,
it is extremely doubtful whether they could properly claim for their Consular officers any
ot the rights and privileges extended under special Treaties and Consular Conventions to
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