Catalogue description Records of Consular Courts and other extra-territorial jurisdiction

By special treaties known as capitulations, Britain obtained the right at various times to jurisdiction over British nationals in some foreign countries. This 'extra-territorial' jurisdiction, exercised by consuls, was first granted by the Ottoman emperor in 1601, when England was given 'most favoured nation' status, but the privilege did not extend to Egypt until 1697. There were no further grants until the nineteenth century when, after the permissive Foreign Jurisdiction Act of 1843 (6 & 7 Vic, c 94), capitulations were signed with Siam in 1855 and China in 1858.

Since junior consular officials were not necessarily British nationals themselves, the right of jurisdiction could be abused. In consequence, a limited number of supreme courts were established, each with a professional lawyer as judge, to hear appeals and to decide the more important cases. Also restricted to only a few courts was naval jurisdiction, although this was limited to disputes within a ship which had no effect on the port as a whole. In fact, the greater part of this work involved probate.

Turkey abolished capitulations unilaterally in 1914. They were restored, however, in 1920 and not finally abolished until the treaty of Lausanne in 1923. In 1937 consular courts in Egypt were abolished, except with respect to their jurisdiction in personal cases such as divorce and probate which survived, with the mixed courts, until 1949. The courts in China were also abolished by a treaty of 1943. Extra-territorial jurisdiction was no longer in accordance with the principles of international law and practice. Nevertheless, new consular courts were established in the states of the Persian Gulf in 1948, which survived until 1966.