Identity area
Reference code
ASDMAE RCItAE-Tribunali
Title
Royal Consular Courts in Alexandria, Egypt
Date(s)
- 1861 - 1940 (Creation)
Level of description
Special archive
Extent and medium
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Consular assistance took many forms.
The consulate exercised civil and criminal jurisdiction over its nationals.
The privileges and exemptions granted over the centuries, known as capitulations, formed the framework within which consulates operated.
Both civil and criminal matters concerning non-Ottoman subjects fell under the competence of the consulates on which they depended, by derogation from the general principle that jurisdiction derives from territorial sovereignty.
The legal principle ‘actor sequitur forum rei’ applied: in summary, a defendant could be tried only by the court of the consulate to which they belonged; consular jurisdiction applied to all disputes between compatriots or involving a national.