Public ministers are also all those that have authority from the sovereign to procure the execution of judgments given; to publish the sovereign’s commands; to suppress tumults; to apprehend and imprison malefactors; and other acts tending to the conservation of the peace. For every act they do by such authority is the act of the commonwealth; and their service, answerable to that of the hands, in a body natural.

Public ministers abroad are those that represent the person of their own sovereign to foreign states. Such are ambassadors, messengers, agents, and heralds, sent by public authority and on public business.