Commissaries.
§ 456. Commissaries are agents sent with a letter of recommendation or commission by one State to another for negotiations, not of a political but of a technical or administrative character only. Such commissaries are, for instance, sent and received for the purpose of arrangements between the two States as regards railways, post, telegraphs, navigation, delineation of boundary lines, and so on. A distinct practice of guaranteeing certain privileges to such commissaries has not grown up, but inviolability of their persons and official papers ought to be granted to them, as they are officially sent and received for official purposes. Thus Germany, in 1887, in the case of the French officer of police Schnaebélé, who was invited by local German functionaries to cross the German frontier for official purposes and then arrested, recognised the rule that a safe-conduct is tacitly granted to foreign officials when they enter officially the territory of a State with the consent of the local authorities, although Schnaebélé was not a commissary sent by his Government to the German Government.
Bearers of Despatches.
§ 457. Individuals commissioned to carry official despatches from a State to its head or to diplomatic envoys abroad are agents of such State. Despatch-bearers who belong to the retinue of diplomatic envoys as their couriers must enjoy, as stated above (§ 405), exemption from civil and criminal jurisdiction and a special protection in the State to which the envoy is accredited, and a right of innocent passage through third States. But bearers of official despatches who are not in the retinue of the diplomatic envoys employing them must nevertheless be granted inviolability for their person and official papers, provided they possess special passports stating their official character as despatch-bearers. And the same is valid respecting bearers of despatches between the head of a State who is temporarily abroad and his Government at home.
IV INTERNATIONAL COMMISSIONS
Rivier, I. pp. 564-566—Ullmann, § 68—Gareis, §§ 51-52—Liszt, § 16—Moore, IV. § 623.
Permanent in Contradistinction to Temporary Commissions.
§ 458. A distinction must be made between temporary and permanent international commissions. The former consist of commissaries delegated by two or more States to arrange all kinds of non-political matters, such as railways, post, telegraphs, navigation, boundary lines, and the like. Such temporary commissions dissolve as soon as their purpose is realised.[800] Besides temporary commissions, there are, however, permanent commissions in existence. They have been instituted by the Powers[801] in the interest of free navigation on two international rivers and the Suez Canal; further, in the interest of international sanitation; thirdly, in the interest of the foreign creditors of several States unable to pay the interest on their stocks; and, lastly, concerning bounties on sugar.
[800] The position of their members has been discussed above, § 456. Quite novel institutions are the International Commissions of Inquiry recommended by the Hague Peace Conferences of 1890 and 1907. Articles 9 to 36 of the Hague Convention for the peaceful adjustment of international differences provide that, in international differences involving neither honour nor vital interests, and arising from a difference of opinion on matters of fact, the parties should institute an International Commission of Inquiry; this commission to present a report to the parties, which shall be limited to a statement of the facts. See below, [vol. II. § 5].
[801] Only such permanent commissions are mentioned in the text as have been instituted by the Powers in conference. There are, however, many permanent commissions in existence which have been instituted by neighbouring Powers for local purposes, as for example:—(1) The American-Canadian International Fisheries Commission, instituted according to article 1 of the Treaty of Washington of April 11, 1908; see Treaty Series, 1908, No. 17. (2) The American-Canadian International Joint Commission concerning boundary waters, instituted by articles 7-12 of the Treaty of Washington of January 11, 1909; see Treaty Series, 1910, No. 23. (3) The permanent Mixed Fisheries Commission between the United States, Canada, and Newfoundland, instituted in consequence of the award of the Hague Court of Arbitration in the North Atlantic Fisheries Case.