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18 - Diplomatic Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2025

By
Giuseppe Puma
General editor
Randall Lesaffer
Edited by
Robert Kolb  and
Momchil Milanov
Randall Lesaffer
Affiliation:
KU Leuven and Tilburg University
Robert Kolb
Affiliation:
Université de Genève
Momchil Milanov
Affiliation:
International Court of Justice
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Summary

The contribution contends that current rules of diplomatic law have consolidated during the era of the League of Nations. This holds true, for instance, in relation to the main facets of the protection of diplomatic premises; that is to say, inviolability stricto sensu, the exemption from execution and the obligation to protect the premises against any intrusion. In fact, Article 22 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations is largely based on the rules crystallised before the extinction of the League of Nations. As for the immunities of diplomatic agents, it is precisely in this period that the distinction between acts performed by the agent in the exercise of his functions and those carried out in his personal capacity crystallised in customary international law, even though immunity in the field of private law has been applied by domestic courts in a heterogeneous manner, especially when exceptions were at issue.

Keywords

inviolability of premisescodificationprivileges and immunitiesimmunity from criminal jurisdictionextraterritoriality
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of International Law , pp. 589 - 611
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Adair, E.R., The Extraterritoriality of Ambassadors in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (London: Longmans 1929).Google Scholar
Brookfield, J.A., ‘Immunity of subordinate personnel of a diplomatic mission’, British Yearbook of International Law, 19 (1938) 151–60.Google Scholar
Colliard, C.-A., Droit international et histoire diplomatique (Paris: Montchrestien 1948).Google Scholar
de Heyking, A., L’exterritorialité (2nd edn, Paris: A. Pedone 1926).Google Scholar
Deak, J., ‘Classification, privilèges et immunités des agents diplomatiques’, Revue de droit international et de législation comparée, vol. 9 (1928) 173–206.Google Scholar
Fort-Dumanoir, H., ‘De l’étendue de l’immunité de juridiction des agents diplomatiques’, Journal de droit international privé, 48 (1929) 831–54.Google Scholar
Franklin, W.M.H., Protection of Foreign Interests. A Study in Diplomatic and Consular Practice (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office 1946).Google Scholar
Gutteridge, J.A.C., ‘Immunity of the subordinate diplomatic staff’, British Yearbook of International Law, 2 (1957) 148–59.Google Scholar
Hyde, C.C., ‘Freedom to withdraw diplomatic relations’, American Journal of International Law, 30 (1936) 284–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langhorne, R., ‘The regulation of diplomatic practice: the beginnings to the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations’, Review of International Studies, 18 (1992) 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehr, E., ‘Quelques mots sur le fondement des immunités diplomatiques’, Revue de droit international et de législation comparée, 7 (1905) 409–15.Google Scholar
Liang, Y.-S., Les privilèges et immunités des agents diplomatiques à l’égard des États tiers (Paris: Éditions Jel 1938).Google Scholar
Maresca, A., Profili storici delle istituzioni diplomatiche (Milan: Giuffrè 1994).Google Scholar
Nicolson, H., Diplomacy (2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1939).Google Scholar
Preuss, L., ‘Capacity for legation and theoretical basis of diplomatic immunities’, Revue de droit international et de sciences diplomatiques et politiques, 26 (1932) 1–18.Google Scholar
Preuss, L., ‘Protection of foreign diplomatic and consular premises against picketing’, American Journal of International Law, 31 (1937) 705–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strisower, L., ‘L’exterritorialité et ses principales applications’, Recueil des cours, 1 (1923), 233–87.Google Scholar
Stuart, G., ‘Le droit et la pratique diplomatiques et consulaires’, Recueil des cours, 48 (1934-ii) 459–570.Google Scholar
Vaughan, Williams R.E.L., ‘Les méthodes de travail de la diplomatie’, Recueil des cours, 4 (1924) 225–88.Google Scholar
Young, E., ‘The development of the law of diplomatic relations’, British Yearbook of International Law, 40 (1964) 141–82.Google Scholar

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