Exequatur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An exequatur is a patent which a head of state issues to a foreign consul which guarantees the consul's rights and privileges of the office and ensures recognition in the state to which the consul is appointed to exercise such powers. If a consul is not appointed by commission, the consul receives no exequatur; the government will usually provide some other means to recognize the consul. The exequatur may be withdrawn, but in practice, where a consul is obnoxious, an opportunity is afforded to his government to recall him.

It is also the name given to the permission from secular authorities which some dissident Roman Catholic churchmen believed was needed before Papal pronouncements could be enforced.^[1]

In French law, an exequatur is a judgement by which a French tribunal states that a decision issued by a foreign tribunal should be executed in France.