File 868/1904 Pt 1 'Consular: Exemption of Foreign Consular Officers from Imperial and Municipal Taxation' [‎174v] (48/113)

creditor is a Prussian or a foreign subject. The Prussian Government, however, recognize
the former validity of the jurisdiction of the foreign Civil tribunal, in the case of a foreign
subject w ho has taken up a Consular appointment in Prussia, so long as recourse can be
had to it without injury to the Prussian rights of jurisdiction. A double personal liability
to jurisdiction can consequently be established, in which case the creditor can choose
either the one or the other.
“ In criminal suits, on the contrary, the rule is that such foreign Consular officers ^
who are not Prussian subjects are exempted from Prussian jurisdiction if they are not ^
engaged in trade or any industry, and do not possess any landed property. Consequently,
a criminal, coming within this category, wmuld be handed over to that Government in
whose Consular service he w r as employed for trial and punishment.* This exemption would
not, however, extend to such deeds punishable under penal law, and which directly injure
State rights in the Kingdom of Prussia. Similarly, it would not extend to cases in which,
in the interests of public order and security, it becomes necessary to bring the offender
promptly to justice.
<c Consular officers, being Prussian subjects, are generally (including penal offences)
entirely subject to Prussian jurisdiction. The liability to such jurisdiction in criminal
matters also affects such foreign subjects whose occupations in Prussia are not confined
strictly to Consular work.
“With reference to the arrest of foreign Consular officers, it is in itself permissible to
take such a step on the express understanding that subsequent legal proof ol the validity
of such action shall be forthcoming, irrespective of whether the Consular official is a
foreign or a Prussian subject. This can take place whether the offence be a crime or the
outcome of a private affair—such as occurs in the case of arrest for debt—that gives rise
to the arrest, but with the proviso that, when such a case arises, the foreign Government
is to be notified in order that they may take the steps to provide for some one else carrying
on the work of Consular representation. A similar communication is also considered as
necessary, even where no arrest is made, as soon as ever a criminal action is about to be
brought against a Consular officer in Prussia.
“Moreover, the special consideration (indulgence) granted to foreigners of certain
rank, as generally prescribed by the Prussian laws, principally with regard to personal arrest
in civil cases, would also be applicable to a ‘ Consul Missus. Beyond this protection in
cases of arrest, the foreign Consular officers in Prussia cannot, either in criminal or civil
matters, avoid complying with the forms laid down for general application, so long as they
are subject to German jurisdiction.”
As to (d). Provisions under Local Custom.
The question of the rights and privileges granted to foreign Consular officers by general
custom (see p. 9) is not dealt with here, except in so iar as mentioned in Part I and as
illustrated by the Annexes Nos. 1 to 4.
2 . The Case of British Consular Officers.
The position of British Consular officers in Prussia, it pushed to its extreme limits at
the present time, is, apparently, limited strictly by the extent to which any of the above-
mentioned (Part II (C), page 11) privileges, accorded by the Prussian Government, are
ovanted to foreign Consular Representatives in the United Kingdom. How far they are
so granted I am unable to judge, but it would be most useful to the British Embassy in
Berlin to have some official statement from the Foreign Office on this point, in order that
His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador should, in the future, be in a position to determine
bow far he could properlv support claims of this nature put forward by British Consular
officers, should other cases arise on points other than that of exemption from income tax,
as recently raised by Mr. Bernal and Mr. Oppenbeimer (His Majesty’s Consular officers at
Stettin and Frankfort respectively).
In view of this extremely unsatisfactory position in Prussia at the present time, it
seems to be more than ever important that a Treaty of some description should soon be
* This provision, however, appears to have been superseded by § 21 of the later “ Gerichtsverfassungs-
gesetz” of the German Empire (see page 9), which provides that Consular Officers residing in its territories
are subject to German jurisdiction, unless there exist in Treaties special stipulations freeing them therefrom.