Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the
jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as
military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the
United Nations.
Bureau of Consular Affairs,
United States Department of State. The three most common cases recognized today internationally relate to the persons and belongings of foreign heads of state, the persons and belongings of ambassadors and certain other diplomatic agents, and public ships in foreign waters.
Extraterritoriality is often extended to friendly or allied militaries, particularly for the purposes of allowing that military to simply pass through one's territory.
It is distinguished from
personal jurisdiction in the sense that extraterritoriality operates to the prejudice of local jurisdiction.
Historical cases
During the thirteen and fourteenth centuries, the
Italian sea republics of
Genoa and
Venice managed to wrestle extraterritoriality for their quarters (
Pera and
Galata) in the Byzantine capital,
Constantinople.
They even battled among themselves for further control of the weakened empire.
Perhaps the most well-known cases of historical extraterritoriality concerned
European nationals in 19th century
China and
Japan under the so-called
unequal treaties. Extraterritoriality was imposed upon China in the
Treaty of Nanjing, resulting from the
First Opium War.
Shanghai in particular became a major center of foreign activity, as it contained two extraterritorial zones, the
International Settlement and the
French Concession. Extraterritorial claims were not limited to Western nations; Japan later claimed extraterritorial privileges elsewhere in Asia. These extraterritorialities officially ended only after the end of
World War II. The last example of extraterritorial jurisdiction maintained by the United States was in Morocco, which ended in 1957.
Japan recognized extraterritoriality in the treaties concluded with the
United States, the
United Kingdom,
France,
Netherlands, and
Russia in 1858, in connection with the concept of "
Most Favored Nation".
[Duus, Peter (1998). Modern Japan, Second Ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.] However, Japan succeeded in reforming its unequal status with Western countries through the
Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed on
July 16,
1894 in London.
Extraterritoriality in China for non-diplomatic personnel ended at various times in the twentieth century.
Germany and
Austria-Hungary lost their rights in China in 1917 after China joined the allies in
World War I; the
Soviet Union gave up its rights in China in 1924; the
United States and
United Kingdom gave up their rights in 1943;
Italy and
Japan gave up their rights by virtue of being at war with China in
World War II; and
France was the last country to give up its rights, in 1946.
Siam signed a treaty granting extraterritorial rights to Britain in 1855 during the reign of King
Rama IV. Unequal treaties were later signed with 13 other European powers, as well as
Japan. After the
absolute monarchy was overthrown in 1932, the constitutional government promulgated a set of legal codes, setting the stage for new treaties signed between 1937 and 1938 which canceled extraterritorial rights.
The
Treaty Ports in
Ireland, which were
sovereign bases created by the
United Kingdom in 1922, did not enjoy extraterritoriality from the
Irish Free State. They were instead pieces of sovereign territory retained by the United Kingdom, until they were finally ceded to the Free State in 1938.
A historic case of extraterritoriality was the seizure of the railways of
Nicaragua by
Brown Brothers Harriman, a U.S. banking firm. Under the
Knox-Castrillo Treaty of 1911 these railroads became legally part of the
State of Maine, according to former president of Guatemala,
Juan José Arévalo, in his book
The Shark and the Sardines (Lyle Stuart, New York, 1961), pp. 210–220, though the Knox-Castrillo Treaty contains no mention of Maine or railroads.
In American Indian contact with EuroAmericans, extraterritoriality once denoted the same idea that beyond given points/lines -- e. g., the Indian Southern Boundary in colonial times -- Indian tribes were beyond white jurisdiction and non-Indians were not to trespass or occupy any lands. With the establishment of reservations, extraterritoriality soon lost this meaning or became a moot designation.
Examples of current extraterritoriality
- CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Santa Maria di Galeria Vatican Radio transmitter
In popular culture
In the futuristic setting of the
Shadowrun role-playing game, major corporations have been granted extraterritoriality.
See also
