flict ſuch a puniſhment as was required, becauſe of the defect in that particular of the former eſtabliſhed conſtitutions of her kingdom, yet, with the unanimous conſent of the parliament, ſhe had cauſed a new act to be paſſed, to ſerve as a law for the future.” This humiliating ſtep was accepted as a full ſatisfaction by the czar; and the offenders, at his requeſt, were diſcharged from all farther proſecution.
This ſtatute[1] recites the arreſt which had been made, “in contempt of the protection granted by her majeſty, contrary to the law of nations, and in prejudice of the rights and privileges, which embaſſadors and other public miniſters have at all times been thereby poſſeſſed of, and ought to be kept ſacred and inviolable:” wherefore it enacts, that for the future all proceſs whereby the perſon of any embaſſador, or of his domeſtic or domeſtic ſervant, may be arreſted, or his goods diſtreined or ſeiſed, ſhall be utterly null and void; and the perſons proſecuting, ſoliciting, or executing ſuch proceſs ſhall be deemed violaters of the law of nations, and diſturbers of the public repoſe; and ſhall ſuffer ſuch penalties and corporal puniſhments as the lord chancellor and the two chief juſtices, or any two of them, ſhall think fit. But it is expreſſly provided, that no trader, within the deſcription of the bankrupt laws, who ſhall be in the ſervice of any embaſſador, ſhall be privileged or protected by this act; nor ſhall any one be puniſhed for arreſting an embaſſador’s ſervant, unleſs his name be regiſtred with the ſecretary of ſtate, and by him tranſmitted to the ſheriffs of London and Middleſex. Exceptions, that are ſtrictly conformable to the rights of embaſſadors[2], as obſerved in the moſt civilized countries. And, in conſequence of this ſtatute, thus declaring and enforcing the law of nations,
- ↑ 7 Ann c. 12.
- ↑ Saepe quaeſitum eſt an comitum numero et jure habendi ſunt, qui legatum comitantur, non ut inſtructior fiat legatitio, ſed unice ut lucro ſuo conſulant, inſtitores forte et mercatores. Et, quamvis hos ſaepe defenderint et comitum loco habere voluerint legati, apparet tamen ſatis eo non pertinere, qui in legati legationiſve officio non ſunt. Quum autem ea res nonnunquam turbas dederit, optimo exemplo in quibuſdam aulis olim receptum fuit, ut legatus teneretur exhibere nomenclaturam comitum ſuorum. Van Bynkerſh. c. 15. prope finem.
