Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/264

 THE TURKISH CAPITULATIONS Since the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 the relations of the Western Nations to the Ottoman Empire have been in many respects unique. These relations were determined and de- fined by decrees of the sultans, who granted large privileges and powers to Europeans resident on their soil. To these decrees in due time the name of Capitulations was given, apparently for the reason that they were divided into articles or chapters. They were personal grants, valid only for the life of the grantor. Hence they were renewed, often with modifications, on the accession of a new sultan. So we find many Capitulations made with France, Eng- land and other states. The earliest of these Capitulations, to which reference is now made for authority, is that of 1535, with Francis I. of France. It is more specific and formal than any pre- vious decree. It remained practically in force for 300 j'ears. It is an interesting fact that concessions similar to those made in the Turkish Capitulations were granted to foreigners in the Orient prior to the establishment of the Ottoman power in the Levant. There is a tradition that ten centuries ago Arab traders were admit- ted to Canton with permission to erect a mosque, and have a cadi and their own laws ; ' and another that about the same time the califs of Egypt granted similar privileges to the merchants of Amalfi. It is certain that in the Latin colonies in the Greek Empire and on the coast of Africa and of Syria in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the traders from Amalfi and Venice carried with them their local laws and jurisdiction. After the crusades the Frankish barons holding eastern ports sought successfully to attract western trade by releasing it from many of the burdens imposed on it in Italy and France in the form of taxes, imposts, the droit d'anbaine, etc. The foreign community or colony was governed under the laws of its own land by a consul, or an official having some other title, but invested with the powers of a magistrate. In the Mussul- man states of Northern Africa and the Levant, in the fourteenth century the foreigners of each nation were often gathered in one large establishment with their shops, their chapel and their consular residence. At the same period in the Greek Empire and in Chris - ' Travers Twiss in Revue de Droit International, 1893, p. 207. Pardessus, Loii Maritime!, II. , p. cxxxviii. (254)