I’ve recently returned from my annual trip to Australia to attend the Omega Writers Conference. There is a lot to think of before an overseas trip, and a long list of things to pack. But the most important is my passport. After all, I can borrow or buy anything else I forget. But if I forget my passport, I’m not allowed to leave the country.
While what we think of as a passport is a relatively modern invention, the principle has existed for millennia:
The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:6 NIV)
This allowed the bearer safe passage through the land. In Naaman’s case, it also got him an introduction to the king of Israel. The letter was the historical version of what we now call a passport.
The New Zealand passport says:
The Governor-General in the Realm of New Zealand requests in the Name of Her Majesty The Queen all whom it may concern to allow the holder to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful assistance and protection.
(It’s then repeated in Maori, as the second official written language of New Zealand Aotearoa.)
The United Kingdom passport says:
Despite all the nice words, we know the Governor-General and Queen didn’t personally write that for me. They’re not really asking that I be allowed to pass “without delay”. If that was the case, there wouldn’t be such long queues at passport control!
Yes, international law accepts the story that I have a pass from the Queen.
Even with a passport, we’re expected to obey the laws of the countries we visit. My New Zealand passport has two pages of Important Information (one page in English, and one in Maori). It says:
It is the responsibility of the holder to … comply with the immigration regulations and laws of other countries.
We don’t get a pass because we’re foreigners and aliens in a strange land. Instead, we’re expected to comply with the laws in the country we are visiting.
There is even a principle that says we also need to comply with the laws in our own country as well. It’s called the long arm of the law (yes, that’s an actual legal term). It means that if we’re doing something that crosses national (e.g. state) borders and international borders, then we’re expected to comply with both sets of laws. That can get difficult when the laws appear to conflict …
