88 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 



States vessels for men of British nationality. This right was stoutly 

 denied by the United States, and although the question was not 

 definitely settled by that war, it will not probably arise again, as 

 Great Britain has abandoned the system of impressing men for 

 the navy. 



An interesting phase of the relation of sovereignty to the terri- 

 tory of a state is found in the law which relates to the person of a 

 sovereign while within foreign territory. In his capacity of a 

 sovereign, he is free from all local jurisdiction so long as he is there. 

 He cannot be proceeded against either in ordinary or extraordinary 

 civil or criminal courts ; he is exempted from taxes ; he is not sub- 

 jected to police Or other administrative regulation ; his house cannot 

 be entered by the authority of the state in which he is, and the 

 members of his suite enjoy the same personal immunity as himself. 

 If he commits acts against the safety or good order of the community, 

 or permits them to be done by his attendants, the state can only 

 expel him from his territory, putting him under such restraint as is 

 necessary to do this. If a crime is committed by a member of his 

 suite, the accused person cannot be tried and punished. Criminals 

 belonging to his suite must be sent home to be tried, and civil 

 actions must be equally reserved from the home courts. A 

 sovereign, however, cannot protect an accused person, not a member 

 of his suite, who takes refuge from the pursuit of the local authority. 

 They cannot enter his house, but he is bound to surrender the 

 refugee, and a refusal to give him up would justify the authorities in 

 expelling the sovereign and in preventing the accused by force from 

 being carried off in his retinue. 



Sometimes, however, a sovereign has a double personality, that 

 is to say, he may be for some purposes in the position of a private 

 individual. Thus, if he enters the military service of a foreign 

 country, he submits himself to its authority in his capacity of a 

 military officer, and if he travels incognito he may be treated as the 

 private individual he appears to be. Diplomatic agents possess a 

 somewhat similar immunity. 



Military forces entering the territory of a foreign state in amity 

 with that to which they belong, either when crossing to and fro 

 between the main part of their country and an isolated piece of it, 

 or as allies, are also immune, but in these cases it is usual to con- 



