CREDENTIALS, LETTERS OF. - This is the proper name of the formal act by which a State establishes its own diplomatic agent (v.) with another.

Letters of credence are addressed from head of State to head of State when the diplomatic agent is an ambassador or a minister plenipotentiary or resident; from minister to minister of Foreign Affairs when it is a chargé d'affaires. The agent is installed in his functions with the presentation of the letters of credence (which takes place with particular formalities provided by diplomatic ceremonial) and from that moment he must be considered as an organ that performs acts internationally attributable to the accrediting State.

When the agent is recalled by his own government, he presents, usually with the same formalities, the "letters of recall," receiving, from the competent organ of the State to which he is accredited, the lettres de récréance.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: In addition to that cited under the entry AGENTE DIPLOMATICO, T. Perassi, Lezioni di diritto internazionale, I, Rome 1939, p. 129;

Rodolfo Danieli

@incollection{ec4_credenziali_lettere, author = {Danieli, Rodolfo}, title = {Credenziali, lettere}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {829}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/credenziali-lettere} }

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Credentials, Letters of

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