ABSTRACT
The right of Americans resident, or even transient, in Chinese territory to be tried by American consular officers and under the laws of the United States was incorporated in the first treaty concluded between China and the United States in 1844. The principle established was operative in China for almost a hundred years and came to be known as "extraterritoriality" often shortened for convenience to "extrality." The American treaty of 1844 became the type o expression of extraterritoriality in China, and the American envoy, Caleb Cushing, is recognized as the author of the principle of extraterritoriality as an exception to the customary practice of international law among European and American states. United States Consul Wilcocks reported that the American ship Wabash, of Baltimore, Captain C. L. Gantt, was lying in Macao Roads "with a quantity of opium and seven thousand dollars in specie on board."
