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The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries. A consul is distinguished from an ambassador, the latter being a representative from one head of state to another. There can be only one ambassador from one country to another, representing the first country's head of state to that of the second, and his or her duties revolve around diplomatic relations between the two countries; however, there may be several consuls, one in each of several main cities, providing assistance with bureaucratic issues to both the citizens of the consul's own country travelling or living abroad and to the citizens of the country the consul resides in who wish to travel to or trade with the consul's country.

Antecedent: the Classical Greek Proxenos[link]

In Classical Greece, some of the functions of the modern Consul were fulfilled by a Proxenos. Unlike the modern position, this was a citizen of the host polity (in Greece, a city state). The Proxenos was usually a rich merchant who had socio-economic ties with another city and who helped its citizens when they were in trouble in his own city. The position of Proxenos was often hereditary in a particular family. Modern Honorary Consuls fulfil a function that is to a degree similar to that of the Ancient Greek institution.

Historical development of the terms[link]

Consuls were the highest magistrates of the Roman Republic. The term was revived by the city-state of Genoa which, unlike Rome, bestowed it on various state officials, not necessarily restricted to the highest. Among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included duties similar to those of the modern consul, i.e. helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities.

The Consolat de mar was an institution established under the reign of Peter IV of Aragon in the fourteenth century, and which spread to 47 locations throughout the Mediterranean.^[1] It was primarily a judicial body, administering maritime and commercial law as Lex Mercatoria. Although the Consolat de mar was established by the Corts General (parliament) of the Crown of Aragon, the consuls were independent from the King. This distinction between consular and diplomatic functions remains (at least formally) to this day. Modern consuls retain limited judicial powers to settle disputes on ships from their country (notably regarding the payment of wages to sailors).

The Consulado de mercaderes was set up in 1543 in Seville as a merchant guild to control trade with Latin America. As such, it had branches in the principal cities of the Spanish colonies.

The connection of "consul" with trade and commercial law is retained in French. In francophone countries, a juge consulaire (consular judge) is a non-professional judge elected by the chamber of commerce to settle commercial disputes in the first instance (in France, sitting in panels of three; in Belgium, in conjunction with a professional magistrate).

Consulates and embassies[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Consulate-General of Indonesia in Houston is Indonesia's representation in Houston, Texas, United States

Consulate of Kazakhstan in Omsk, Russia

Consulate of Portugal in Mindelo, Cape Verde.

The office of a Consul is termed a Consulate, and is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in that foreign country, usually an Embassy, or High Commission between Commonwealth countries, in the capital city of the host state. Like the term embassy, the word consulate may refer not only to the office of consul, but also to the building occupied by the consul and his or her staff. In capital cities, the consulate may share the premises with the embassy itself.

A consul of higher rank is termed a consul-general, and his or her office a consulate-general. He or she typically has one or several Deputy Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls and Consular Agents working under the consul-general. Consulates-general need not have their offices in the capital city, but rather could have then in the most important/appropriate cities in terms of bilateral relations (commerce, travel, etc.). In the United States, for example, most countries have a consulate-general in New York City (the home of the United Nations), and some have consulates-general in several major cities (e.g., Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hartford, Houston, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans). The same is the case for other large countries like Germany - where many consulates-general are located in cities such as Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich, the Russian Federation - where many consulates-general are located in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, etc., Canada - where many consulates-general are located in Toronto and Vancouver, Brazil - where many consulates-general are located in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and Australia - where many consulates-general are located in Sydney and Melbourne.

Authority and activities[link]

Consuls of various ranks may have specific legal authority for certain activities, such as notarizing documents. As such, diplomatic personnel with other responsibilities may receive consular letters patent (commissions). Aside from those outlined in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, there are few formal requirements outlining what a consular official must do. For example, for some countries, consular officials may be responsible for the issuance of visas; other countries may limit "consular services" to providing assistance to compatriots, legalization of documents, etc. Nonetheless, consulates proper will be headed by consuls of various ranks, even if such officials have little or no connection with the more limited sense of consular service.

Activities of a consulate include protecting the interests of their citizens temporarily or permanently resident in the host country, issuing passports; issuing visas to foreigners and public diplomacy. However, the principal role of a consulate lies traditionally in promoting trade—assisting companies to invest and to import and export goods and services both inwardly to their home country and outward to their host country. And although it is never admitted publicly, consulates, like embassies, may also gather intelligence information from the assigned country.

Consular districts[link]

In many cases, such as the United States, consulates are established for specific consular districts of another nation-state. For instance, the consular representation in India and Bhutan is divided into 5 regions, one of which, the New Delhi Consular District (based at the U.S. consulate in New Delhi), covers the Indian states of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and the Kingdom of Bhutan. Consular districts are demarcated to serve only citizens resident within the district with non-immigrant visas.

Role in diplomatic missions[link]

Contrary to popular belief, although many of the staff of consulates may be career diplomats, they do not generally have diplomatic immunity (unless they are also accredited as such). Immunities and privileges for consuls and accredited staff of consulates (consular immunity) are generally limited to actions undertaken in their official capacity and, with respect to the consulate itself, to those required for official duties. In practice, the extension and application of consular privileges and immunities can be subject to wide discrepancies from country to country.

Consulates are more numerous than diplomatic missions (e.g., embassies), since the latter are posted only in a foreign nation's capital (exceptionally even outside the country, in case of a multiple mandate; e.g., a minor power may well accredit a single Ambassador with several neighbouring states of modest relative importance that are not considered important allies), while consular ones are also posted in various cities throughout the country, especially centres of economic activity, or wherever there is a significant population of its citizens (expatriates) in residence.

Consulates are subordinate posts of their home country's diplomatic mission (typically an embassy, in the capital city of the host country). Diplomatic missions are established in international law under the Vienna Conventions, while consulates-general and consulates are established in international law under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Formally, at least within the US system, the consular career (ranking in descending order: Consul-General, Consul, Vice-Consul, Honorary Consul) forms a different hierarchy from the diplomats in the strict sense. However, it is common for individuals to be transferred from one hierarchy to the other, and for consular officials to serve in a capital carrying out strictly consular duties within the consular section of a diplomatic post; e.g., within an embassy.

Between Commonwealth countries, both diplomatic and consular activities may be undertaken by a High Commission in the capital, although larger Commonwealth nations generally also have consulates and consulates-general in major cities. For example, Toronto in Canada, Sydney in Australia and Auckland, New Zealand, are of greater economic importance than their respective national capitals, hence the need for consulates there.

In British colonies, most notably Hong Kong before the transfer of its sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997, senior envoys from Commonwealth states in these missions are usually known as Commissioners. (All previous Commissioners in Hong Kong are now styled Consuls-General.)

Consul general[link]

A consul general is a consular officer who heads a consulate general and is a consul of the highest rank serving at a particular location. A consul general may also be responsible for consular districts which contain other, subordinate consular offices within a country. The consul general serves as a representative who speaks on behalf of his or her state in the country to which he or she is located, although ultimate jurisdiction over the right to speak on behalf of a home country within another country ultimately belong to the single ambassador. It is abbreviated "CG" and the plural form is consuls general. In most embassies, the consular section is headed by a consul general who is also a member of the ambassador's country team.

Honorary consul[link]

Home of Poland's honorary consul in Jerusalem

Some consuls are not career officials of the represented state at all; some are locally-engaged staff with the nationality of the sending country,^[2] and in smaller cities, or in cities that are very distant from full-time diplomatic missions, a foreign government which feels that some form of representation is nevertheless desirable may appoint a person who has not hitherto been part of their diplomatic service to fulfill this role. Such a consul may well combine the job with his or her own (often commercial) private activities, and in some instances may not even be a citizen of the sending country. Such consular appointments are usually given the title of honorary consul. Graham Greene used this position as the title of his 1973 novel The Honorary Consul.

Notwithstanding their other roles, Honorary Consular Officers (in the widest use of the term) also have responsibility for the welfare of citizens of the appointing country within their bailiwick.^{[citation needed]} Thus, particularly within a port town, an Honorary Consul may be called out (at any time, day or night) to attend to the well-being of a citizen of the appointing country who has been arrested. Their role in this situation is to ensure that the arrested persons are treated in a like manner as would be the citizen of the country in which this person was arrested, and understand their rights & obligations.

Historical role in Lübeck[link]

In the social life of 19th century Lübeck as depicted in Thomas Mann's novel Buddenbrooks - based on Mann's thorough personal knowledge of his own birth milieu - an appointment as the Consul of a foreign country was a source of considerable social prestige among the city's merchant elite. As depicted in the book, the position of a Consul for a particular country was in practice hereditary in a specific family, whose mansion bore the represented country's coat of arms, and with that country confirming the Consul's son or other heir in the position on the death of the previous Consul. As repeatedly referenced by Mann, Consul's wife was known as "Consulin" and continued to bear that title even on the death of her husband. Characters in the book are mentioned as Consuls for Denmark, The Netherlands and Portugal.

Colonial and similar roles[link]

Concessions and extraterritoriality[link]

History of European consuls in the Ottoman Empire[link]

See also[link]

• Agent general
• Capitulation (treaty)
• Consular corps
• Diplomacy

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

• De Groot, Alexander (1978), The Ottoman Empire and the Dutch Republic: a History of the Earliest Diplomatic Relations, 1610-1630, Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut Leiden/Istanbul, ISBN 978-90-6258-043-9 
• Dursteler, Eric R. (2001), "The Bailo in Constantinople: Crisis and Career in Venice's Early Modern Diplomatic Corps", Mediterranean Historical Review 16 (2): 1–30, DOI:10.1080/714004583, ISSN 0951-8967 
• Eldem, Edhem (1999), French Trade in Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century, Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 978-90-04-11353-4 
• Epstein, Steven A. (2006), Purity Lost: Transgressing Boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean 1000–1400, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-8484-9 
• Goffman, Daniel; Aksan, Virginia H. (2007), "Negotiation With the Renaissance State: The Ottoman Empire and the New Diplomacy", The Early Modern Ottomans: Remapping the Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 61–74, ISBN 978-0-521-81764-6 
• Goffman, Daniel (2002), The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe, New York: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-45280-9 
• Mattingly, Garrett (1963), Renaissance Diplomacy, The Bedford Historical Series, London: Cape, OCLC 270845938 
• Steensgaard, Neils (1967), "Consuls and Nations in the Levant From 1570 to 1650", The Scandinavian economic history review 15 (1): 13–55, ISSN 03585522 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Consulates

• Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963)
• Conditions of the Ahd-name granted by Mehmed II to the Genoese of Galata
• Gilbert, Wesley John (April 2011) (free). Our Man in Zanzibar: Richard Waters, American Consul (1837-1845) (B.A. Thesis). Departmental Honors in History. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University. http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1674&context=etd_hon_theses. Retrieved 3 May 2012. 

This article is about the boxer. For the Puerto Rican politician, see Danny López Soto.

Danny Lopez (born July 6, 1952) is a former American boxer from Fort Duchesne, Utah. He was world Featherweight champion, and a very popular fighter both in television and Southern California, during the 1970s. His nickname is Little Red.

Background[link]

Lopez is of Ute Indian, Mexican, and Irish heritage. He had been moved from one foster home to another, and coming off a Ute Indian Reservation in Utah, he finally found a home in Southern California. .^[1] He is also the brother of welterweight contender Ernie Lopez. He is married to Bonnie Lopez and has three sons, Bronson, Jeremy, and Dylan.

Pro career[link]

Lopez began boxing professionally on May 27, 1971, knocking out Steve Flajole in one round at Los Angeles. He won his first 21 fights in a row by knockout, in one of the longest knockout win streaks ever. During that streak, all but one of his fights were in Los Angeles, a fact which could be credited for his popularity in the area. The only one of his fights among those 21 fights outside Los Angeles took place in Honolulu, where he beat Ushiwakamaru Harada by a knockout in three.

On January 17, 1974, Genzo Kurosaw became the first person to go the distance with Lopez, Lopez winning by a ten round decision. His next fight, a month later, in Mexicali, Mexico, was his first fight abroad. He beat Memo Rodriguez by a knockout in nine rounds there.

People in Los Angeles were eager to see Lopez and another up-and-coming Angelino, Bobby Chacon, square off inside a ring. The fight took place on May 24, and Lopez was knocked out in the ninth round in a thrilling fight. In his next fight, he won once again by a knockout in round nine, this time to Shig Furuyama.

After defeating Octavio Gómez to begin 1975, Lopez went into a roll: He began by beating Chucho Castillo by a knockout in two rounds. Two more wins, and he was faced with Rubén Olivares, whom he beat by a knockout in seven rounds, after recovering from a first round knockdown himself.

In 1976, he beat Sean O' Grady by knockout in four, Gómez by knockout in three and Art Hafey by knockout in seven. Finally ranked number one by the WBC, he travelled to Ghana to challenge world Featherweight champion David Kotei in front of an estimated crowd of more than 100,000 Kotei partisans. Lopez became world champion by outpointing Kotey over 15 rounds on November 6. This trip proved to be troublesome for the new champion, however: back in his hotel room, he tried to call his family in the United States to announce the good news, but all communication systems had been cut down in Ghana. Lopez then tried to send them a telegram through the American embassy in Accra, but they too were affected by the system failure and could not get his message through. Lopez's family was finally able to realize that Danny was a world champion when they picked him up at the airport one week later.

Lopez won three fights in 1977, retaining the title once, against José Torres by a knockout in round seven.

He and Kotei had a rematch on February 15 of 1978, as part of the undercard where Leon Spinks dethroned Muhammad Ali of the world Heavyweight title. Lopez knocked Kotey out in round six of their rematch, and then he retained the title against Jose DePaula by knockout in round six, and Juan Malvares (on the undercard where Ali regained the title from Spinks) by knockout in two. On October 21, he had a fight with Fel Clemente, against whom he retained the world title with a four round disqualification in Italy.

By the end of 1978, there was much talk of a super-fight against world Jr. Featherweight champion Wilfredo Gómez, but the bout never materialized.

His fight on March 10 of 1979 against Spain's Roberto Castanon in Salt Lake City, not only marked the first time he defended his world title in his home-state, but the first time he fought in his home-state as a professional period. He retained the crown with a ten round knockout. Then, on June 17, at San Antonio, Lopez and Mike Ayala fought what boxing book The Ring: Boxing in the 20th Century called one of the best fights of 1979. Lopez retained the title with a 15th round knockout, but the fight was marred by the finding afterwards that Ayala had been fighting under the influence of drugs. Nevertheless, this did not affect the fight's result, but left many to speculate about how the fight would have ended had Ayala not been drugged during it. Ayala himself admitted to have been, in his own words, loaded on the day of the fight.

Lopez went on to defend the title once more that year, knocking out Jose Caba in three rounds.

Lopez's reign as world champion came to an end on February 2, 1980, at the Arizona Veterans Coliseum in Phoenix. He met Salvador Sánchez that day, and he lost by knockout in round 14 in a one-sided affair. A rematch was fought on June 21, in Las Vegas, and that time around, Lopez was knocked out in the 13th round, in a replay of the first fight. He announced his retirement after that fight.

In 1985, he talked about a comeback, but decided not to do it.

His record was of 42 wins and 6 losses, with 39 wins by knockout.

On June 2010, Lopez and 12 other boxing personalities were inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.^[2]

Life After Boxing[link]

Lopez has remained active during his latest retirement in the social sphere: He has been the object of various dedications and been active on the autograph signing circuit. He returned to live in Utah full-time after stepping away from the boxing ring for the last time, then moved to Los Angeles, where he works as a construction worker. Today he lives in Chino Hills, CA.

Official professional boxing record[link]

42 Wins (39 Knockouts), 6 Defeats (5 Knockouts), 0 Draws[3]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	42-6	Jorge Rodriguez	KO	2 (10), 0:37	1992-02-27	Marriott Hotel, Irvine, California
Loss	42-5	Salvador Sánchez	TKO	14 (15), 1:42	1980-06-21	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada	For The Ring & WBC World Featherweight titles
Loss	42-4	Salvador Sánchez	TKO	13 (15), 0:51	1980-02-02	Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, Phoenix, Arizona	Lost The Ring & WBC World Featherweight titles
Win	42-3	Jose Caba	TKO	3 (15), 1:41	1979-09-25	Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California	Retained The Ring & WBC World Featherweight titles
Win	41-3	Mike Ayala	KO	15 (15), 1:09	1979-06-17	San Antonio Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas	Retained The Ring & WBC World Featherweight titles The Ring magazine's "Fight of the Year" (1987)
Win	40-3	Roberto Castañón	KO	2 (15)	1979-03-10	Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah	Retained WBC & Won vacant The Ring World Featherweight titles
Win	39-3	Fel Clemente	DQ	4 (15), 2:15	1978-10-21	Palazzo Dello Sport, Pesaro, Marche	Retained WBC World Featherweight title
Win	38-3	Juan Malvarez	KO	2 (15), 0:45	1978-09-15	Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana	Retained WBC World Featherweight title
Win	37-3	Jose De Paula	TKO	6 (15), 1:30	1978-04-23	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California	Retained WBC World Featherweight title
Win	36-3	David Kotey	TKO	6 (15), 1:18	1978-02-15	Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada	Retained WBC World Featherweight title
Win	35-3	José Torres	RTD	7 (15)	1977-09-13	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California	Retained WBC World Featherweight title
Win	34-3	Jorge Altamirano	KO	6 (10)	1977-08-28	Sahara Tahoe Hotel, Stateline, Nevada
Win	33-3	Jose Olivares	KO	2 (10), 1:22	1977-07-29	San Diego Coliseum, San Diego, California
Win	32-3	David Kotey	UD	15	1976-11-06	Accra Sports Stadium, Accra	Won WBC World Featherweight title
Win	31-3	Art Hafey	TKO	7 (10), 0:56	1976-08-06	Inglewood Forum, Inglewood, California
Win	30-3	Octavio Gomez	KO	3 (10), 1:15	1976-04-28	Inglewood Forum, Inglewood, California
Win	29-3	Sean O'Grady	RTD	4 (10)	1976-02-25	Inglewood Forum, Inglewood, California
Win	28-3	Rubén Olivares	KO	7 (10), 1:59	1975-12-04	Inglewood Forum, Inglewood, California
Win	27-3	Antonio Nava	KO	6 (10), 2:09	1975-09-13	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Win	26-3	Raul Cruz	KO	6 (10), 0:30	1975-07-26	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Win	25-3	Chucho Castillo	TKO	2 (10), 3:00	1975-04-24	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Loss	24-3	Octavio Gomez	UD	10	1975-01-18	Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California
Loss	24-2	Shig Fukuyama	RTD	8 (10)	1974-09-19	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Win	24-1	Masanao Toyoshima	KO	3 (10), 2:59	1974-08-08	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Loss	23-1	Bobby Chacon	TKO	9 (10), 0:48	1974-08-08	Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California
Win	23-0	Memo Rodriguez	TKO	10 (10)	1974-02-04	Mexicali, Baja California
Win	22-0	Genzo Kurosawa	UD	10	1974-01-17	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Win	21-0	Goyo Vargas	KO	1 (10), 2:59	1973-09-27	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Win	20-0	Ushiwakamaru Harada	TKO	3 (10)	1973-07-31	Honolulu, Hawaii

Honors[link]

• Inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame - 2005
• Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame - 2010

References[link]

External links[link]

• Professional boxing record for Danny Lopez from BoxRec
• Danny Lopez at the Internet Movie Database

David Siegel is an American motion picture screenwriter and director, and part of a long-standing writing-directing team with filmmaker Scott McGehee.

Filmography[link]

• Suture (1994)
• The Deep End (2001)
• Bee Season (2005)
• Uncertainty (2008)

Interviews[link]

• Link to Cineaste interview: "Identity Politics at Face Value" at The Free Library

External links[link]

• David Siegel at the Internet Movie Database