exequatur

An exequatur (Latin, literally "let it execute") is a legal document issued by a sovereign authority that permits the exercise or enforcement of a right within the jurisdiction of the authority.

==International relations== thumb|An exequatur signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt|US President Franklin D. Roosevelt for French Consul [[Charles de Ferry de Fontnouvelle in 1938]] thumb|upright|A 1946 consular commission, signed by [[Haakon VII on 10 May, appointing Czech businessman as consul general of Norway to the Third Czechoslovak Republic. Added to the top right corner is a note, signed by foreign minister Jan Masaryk on 5 August, that president Edvard Beneš had signed the requisite exequatur on 13 July. ]] In international diplomacy, an exequatur is a patent issued by a head of state recognizing someone as a consul of a foreign sovereign state. The exequatur recognizes the consul as a member of the receiving state's diplomatic corps, and guarantees the rights and privileges of consular office. The consul must first have a consular commission from the state which they represent, which appoints them a member of its diplomatic service. If a consul is not appointed by commission, they receive no exequatur; the receiving state's government will usually provide some other means to recognize them. An exequatur may be withdrawn, which necessitates the consul's recall. Former U.S. diplomat Jonathan B. Rickert noted that he received an exequatur from Elizabeth II when accredited to the United Kingdom in 1965, although not until several months after his arrival; he received no exequatur when accredited to the Socialist Republic of Romania in the 1970s.