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THE HONORARY CONSUL
By Jeffrey Cabuay
If you are a fan of Roman history or have watched movies or series about the Roman empire, you may have heard of the word “Consul”. You would see Roman soldiers and politicians call these highest elected political officials, consuls. In ancient Rome, senators aspire to this public office because they become the chief magistrates or leaders of the Roman Republic. There were always 2 consuls in seating at any time to balance power, and they stayed there for a year.
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Throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the title was used in other European city-states in the Republic of Genoa, and during the early stages of the government of the Republic of Pisa. Napoleon Bonaparte during the
First French Republic also revived this title after staging a coup against the Directory government in November 1799. He became one of the three consuls who had executive powers to rule France.
“Throughout most of southern France, a consul was an office equivalent to the échevins of the north and roughly similar to the English aldermen. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux and Toulouse, which came to be known as jurats and capitouls, respectively. The capitouls of Toulouse were granted transmittable nobility. In many other smaller towns the first consul was the equivalent of a mayor today, assisted by a variable number of secondary consuls and jurats. His main task was to levy and collect taxes.”
The Republic of Genoa, unlike an- cient Rome, conferred the title of Consul to state officials, not necessarily restricted to the highest. These officials assisted the Genoese merchant sailors having difficulties with the local authorities.
In modern times, the American Heritage Dictionary defines a consul as “an official appointed by a government to reside in a foreign country and represent its interests there.”
So, you might be asking now, why do they call them Honorary Consul?
In fact, according to the Vienna Convention of 1963, a consul can be divided into 2 categories – a career Consul and an Honorary Consul (noncareer Consul). The difference is the way they work and how they are renumerated. A career Consul is a government employee of the
