LEGATION, Right of. - The right of legation is a public subjective right, an attribute of sovereignty, which is exercised by sending (active legation) and receiving (passive legation) public ministers or representatives. According to international norms, this right is exercised by sovereign States through the accreditation and reception of diplomatic agents (v.).
The right of legation of the Roman pontiff must, however, be understood in a broader sense, inasmuch as the Roman pontiff and the Holy See have not only the faculty, common to exclusively temporal governments, of sending and receiving representatives with diplomatic character, but also that of communicating, whether through their own diplomatic agents or through other representatives, with all pastors and faithful, directly and independently of any civil power.
The right of legation belongs to the Roman pontiff in consequence of the character the Church has as a perfect society, and is exercised by him by virtue of his primacy.
This right was several times denied or contested, at various times, both by States, some of which wished to recognize it only in consideration of the fact that the pontiff was, at the same time as head of the Church, a temporal prince; and by the bishops themselves, who wrongly perceived in it a violation of the power belonging to them by divine right (e.g., the Punctation of Ems [v.]).
For the historical development of the right of legation and for the organs through which the Roman pontiff exercises it actively, v.: APOSTOLIC DELEGATES; LEGATE; APOSTOLIC NUNCIO.
As already stated, the right of legation also includes the power (which may be a duty contractually assumed toward the accrediting State) of receiving others' representatives (passive legation); this is connected, also as regards the Church, more closely (and one might say exclusively) with international law. Accredited to the Holy See are therefore, with diplomatic character and, in the great majority, permanently, representatives of the various civil governments (v. DIPLOMATIC CORPS). This continued to occur even during the period in which (between 1870 and 1929) the temporal regime did not in fact exist; and, despite the denials of a part of the doctrine and the pressures exerted at first by the Italian government on the powers to withdraw their representatives from the Holy See, it had to be recognized also in the Law of Guarantees (arts. 11 and 12).
The Lateran Pacts recognize, besides "the sovereignty of the Holy See in the international field as an attribute inherent in its nature", the right of legation, both active and passive, in its broadest meaning and in conformity with the doctrine of the Church (art. 12 of the Treaty; arts. 19 of the Treaty and 2 of the Concordat); and they assure to the diplomats accredited to the Holy See, to pontifical diplomats and envoys and to the couriers of both, as well as to those sent by the Holy See, the possibility of crossing, enjoying the customary immunities (v. DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITIES; DIPLOMATIC CORPS; DIPLOMATIC COURIERS), Italian territory.
The diplomatic representatives of the Holy See also represent the State of Vatican City.