In general the authority of a state extends over all persons within its jurisdiction, whether citizens or aliens. In a few cases, however, persons temporarily in a country are allowed an immunity from the laws of such country.

"This immunity has been called exterritoriality. The persons and things thus exempt from local jurisdiction are regarded as carrying with them the territorial status of their native state, or as being for purposes of jurisdiction within their own state, territory, and beyond that of the state in which they are geographically.

"Wherever they may go they carry with them the territory and jurisdiction of their home state. Doubtless this doctrine of exterritoriality in the extreme form may be carried too far, as many late writers contend, and some have desired another term, as immunity from jurisdiction, as more exact and correct. Such a term would have the merit of directing attention to the nature of the relation which the persons concerned sustain to the state. Hall sums up the cases by saying, 'If exterritoriality is taken, not merely as a rough way of describing the effect of certain immunities, but as a principle of law, it becomes, or at any rate is ready to become an independent source of legal rule, displacing the principle of the exclusive-ness of territorial sovereignty within the range of its possible operation in all cases in which practice is unsettled or contested.' Exterritoriality should be viewed as based on the immunities conceded to public persons, rather than as the source of these immunities."5

This right of exterritoriality extends to foreign sovereigns, ambassadors and other public ministers, foreign armies passing through a country with the consent of such country, and foreign battle ships.

5 Wilson and Tucker on International Law, Sec. 61.