Notary Services Glossary beginning with H

Signature.

Hague Conference / Conference de la Haye (Hague Conference on Private International Law) 

Also known as an Advance Directive, this is a document that lets you give directions to health care providers and family about what health care you want, or do not want, at the end of your life. An Advance Directive is a vital component of estate planning, and comes into play if you are unable to communicate or make end of life decisions for yourself. An Advance Directive lets people choose different levels of treatment according to their values and beliefs. It is a message from you to your doctor, and it excuses your loved ones who would otherwise face the prospect of making decisions on your behalf. Essentially, an Advance Directive lets you lay out your wishes, and allows you to provide or withhold consent for certain procedures.

The diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth state to another is called a High Commission. The High Commission generally works in the same way as an embassy, housing the Chancery and in some cases also the High Commissioner's residence.

For example, Canada has a High Commission in Canberra, Australia; and conversely, Australia has a High Commission in Ottawa.

 In the Commonwealth of Nations, the High Commissioner is a senior diplomat who has been given special authority to represent one Commonwealth government to another on the highest level. The High Commissioner heads the High Commission and he or she has ambassadorial rank.

 A consulate may be headed by a career consul or by an honorary consul. The latter type of consul is a private individual, normally a member of the business community in the receiving state, who has been appointed to take care of consular matters between the sending and receiving states. The honorary consul does not receive any salary. An honorary consul may be a citizen of the sending, receiving or a third state. A career consul is in most cases a citizen of the sending states, and he or she is employed directly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the sending state. Unlike an honorary consul, a career consul enjoys some diplomatic privileges.  A host-country national appointed by a foreign state to perform limited consular functions in a locality where the appointing state has no other consular representation.