The power or duty of
original certification is wholly distinct from that supervisory
function. It either dispenses with the foreign certificate altogether,
leaving the consular vise to stand alone and sufficient, or else it
combines in one official act the distinct functions of certification and
verification of the fact certified.
The official character attaching to the consular certification
contemplated by the unamended circular of January 14, 1885, is to be
borne in mind. It is not merely _prima facie_ evidence of the
status of the bearer, such as the courts may admit in their discretion;
it was prescribed as an official attestation, on the strength of which
the customs officers at the port of entry were to admit the bearer
without further adjudication of his status unless question should arise
as to the truth of the certificate itself.
It became, therefore, necessary to amend the circular of January 14,
1885, and this was done on the 13th of June following, by striking out
the clause prescribing original certification of status by the United
States consuls. The effect of this amendment is to deprive any
certificate the United States consuls may issue of the value it
purported to possess as sole permissible evidence under the statute when
its issuance was prescribed by Treasury regulations. There is, however,
nothing to prevent consuls giving certificates of facts within their
knowledge to be received as evidence in the absence of statutory
authentication.
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