History of formation and development of the consular service

The article examines some key points in the development of the consular institute and the improvement of the legal framework aimed at regulating relations within the relevant sphere of international activity. The history of the consular service is analyzed from ancient times, hostile to the very presence of a «foreign element», to the modern era, concerned with the issue of codification of related legal fields; special attention is paid to the era of the Middle Ages and early modern times as the most fruitful chronological segments from the point of view of the development of fundamentally new norms, practically formalized in the specific conditions of the prevalence of trade and maritime relations. The author cites a number of fundamental documents that became a kind of “substrate” for the formation of the system of consular law in the modern sense of the word: the mysterious Amalfi Table (an amazing monument, probably, from the end of the first millennium AD). The system of consular law in the modern sense was shaped by the mystery of the Amalfi Table (an amazing monument probably from the end of the first millennium), numerous bilateral conventions between sovereign states, elevated to absolute status by the Westphalian system of international relations, Latin American regional “pacts” dedicated to defining the exhaustive range of functions of consular representatives, and, finally, the universal Convention on Consular Relations, created by persistent efforts and under the auspices of the symbol of the new international order – the planetary United Nations. In conclusion, the author expresses the view that the consular service has gained a unique position in the modern international political kaleidoscope; no matter how paradoxical it may sound, the frantic whirlwind of global life in the twenty-first century highlights the success of defending the interests of a state directly “on the ground” by consistently upholding the legal rights of ordinary citizens and legal entities. In other words, an objective indicator of the level of development and practical, rather than declared, effectiveness of a country’s diplomatic service is not limited to the functioning of its highest level – the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Embassy; all these indicators are clearly evidenced by the performance of consular offices.