Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/211

ASYLUM. tive society. (See, above; and also ;.

The right of asylum originated in the fiction of extra-territoriality (q.v.), or the extension by a State of its territorial jurisdiction by its legations into the territory of another State, to the exclusion, so far as the precincts of the legation were concerned, of the domestic jurisdiction. The person taking refuge within the legation was deemed to have come under the protection of its flag, and, so long as he remained there, to be as completely exempt from the legal or executive process of the country as if he had escaped to the foreign territory represented by the legation. He might be surrendered by the Government under whose flag he had taken refuge, at its pleasure, or as the subject of extradition (q.v.) proceedings; but any attempt to take him by force was an invasion of the territory of the State in whose legation he was sheltered. This is the theory upon which the alleged right of asylum rests, but it is a theory so clearly at variance with the real basis of international relations of independent States, and it has been so discredited by the abuses to which its application has led, that it has completely broken down. The fiction of extra-territoriality having been abandoned, attempts have been made to justify the right of asylum by the doctrine of the inviolability (q.v.) of diplomatic agents (q.v.), the members of their families, their official houses and property. But, in practice as well as in theory, this doctrine, which is intended only to guarantee the perfect freedom and fearlessness of the minister in the discharge of his functions as the representative of a foreign government, is strictly applicable only to the bona-fide members of his household, not to visitors, and still less to strangers temporarily residing with him.

Notwithstanding the absence in international law of any justification of the right of asylum, it has been frequently granted in modern times, but only in countries whose civil institutions fail to command the respect of foreign States, and in times of civil tumult. It was repeatedly practiced by the representatives of the Powers in Greece during the Revolution of 1862, and in Spain in the periods of anarchy between 1840 and 1850, and from 1865 to 1875. In the Spanish-American States it has been a common and recognized practice to protect in the legations the successive victims of the frequent revolutions by which changes in administration are commonly effected, and the legitimacy of the practice has not infrequently been acquiesced in by the State in which it occurred. This condition of affairs has given a certain legal sanction to the right of asylum in those countries, though it is usually justified by the States exercising it, not on legal grounds, but upon grounds of humanity. It is, however, universally conceded that it has no application to ordinary criminals, but only, as a measure of temporary protection, to political offenders. Even in this restricted form the practice has been generally discouraged and forbidden by the United States Government, though the grant of asylum by our ministers in Central and South America has in exceptional cases been condoned or approved by the Department of State.

The following rules, formulated by Prof. John Bassett Moore, may be taken to represent the official, if not the consistent, attitude of our Government:

1. In no case is a minister to offer his dwelling as a resort for refugees.

2. If a fugitive, uninvited, applies for protection, it is to be accorded only when his life is in imminent danger from mob violence, and only for so long as such imminent danger continues.

3. A minister is bound to refuse asylum to persons fleeing from the pursuit of the legitimate agents of the Government, and, in case such persons have been admitted, he must either surrender or dismiss them.

4. A minister is obliged strictly to abstain, except under the conditions and limitations prescribed by rule 2, from receiving or retaining persons who are engaged in political agitation, or who, though not formally accused, inspire the Government with distrust.

As ships of war are generally conceded to be exempt from the local jurisdiction of the foreign ports visited by them, it is clearly within the power of commanders of such ships to grant asylum to refugees from that jurisdiction; but it is well settled that 'considerations of propriety and good-faith require' them 'to abstain from abusing the hospitality of the port in which they may be by making their vessels an asylum for offenders against the law' (Moore, Pol. Sci. Quar. VII. 408). Neither consuls (q.v.) (who are not diplomatic agents) nor merchant vessels, as a rule, enjoy any exemption from the local jurisdiction, and consequently they can assert no claim to grant asylum. Certain immunities which have been conceded to them from time to time have been exceptional in character, and more in the nature of courtesies extended than of rights admitted. The subject of asylum has been fully and learnedly treated by Prof. John B. Moore in his Asylum in Legations and Consulates (New York, 1892); and more briefly in Snow's International Law, Sec. 18. See also Moore on Extradition (Boston, 1891): Wharton's International Law Digest (Washington, 1896): and Woolsey's International Law (New York, 1899).

ASYMPTOTE, as'im-tot (Gk. ἀσύμπτωτος, asymptōtos, not falling together, from ἀ, a priv. + σύν, syn, with + πιπτειν, piptein, to fall). A straight line which a curve approaches nearer and nearer, but does not reach within any finite distance; or, in other words, a tangent to a curve, having the point of tangency at infinity. A clear idea of how a curve may have such a tangent can be procured from one of the well-known laws in physics. According to that law, the greater the pressure exerted upon a gas the smaller the volume it occupies. This law may be presented in geometrical form by drawing two lines, OX and OY (see figure), perpendicular to each other, and then representing pressures by perpendicular distances from the line OX and the corresponding volumes by perpendicular distances from the line OY. By joining the series of points P₁, P₂, etc., thus obtained, the relation existing between the various pressures and volumes may be graphically shown by a curve called an equilateral hyperbola. The greater the pressure the smaller the volume, and hence the smaller the distance between the curve and the line OY. But where will the curve and the line OY be tangent? In other words, where will