領事裁判權因1855年的「英暹通商條約」的締結而引進泰國;然而,把十九世紀中葉議定該條約的暹方人員所認知的領事裁判權當成「治外法權」則是有問題的。由於十九世紀下半葉亞洲人以及來自鄰近其他歐洲殖民被保護地的人民湧入暹羅,因此對暹羅官方來說,領事裁判權成為「惱人的治外法權」。 爲了控制領事裁判權所帶來之損害,一個國際法庭體系的雛形1874年在清邁建立。本文檢視此一國際法庭體系在十九世紀末到二十世紀初過渡時期的歷史糾葛,並特別注重泰北,因它加速了國際法庭體系的運作。整體而言,此一國際法庭體系有助於把西方觀念融入近代暹羅。由於上述情形牽涉到對於之前北方自治區之侵害,並且有一定的殖民行爲;因此,這種情形似乎可稱爲「內部殖民」,而且可與鄰近地區歐洲強權的殖民相互對照比較。
The consular jurisdiction was introduced into Siam by the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with Britain in 1855. It is problematic to regard the consular jurisdiction conceived by the Siamese negotiators of the treaty in the mid-nineteenth century as ”extraterritoriality” since the existing administrative practice accommodated mixed-bred people within the Siamese king's realm. However, owing to the influx of the Asiatic subjects and protégés from the neighboring European colonies, it became ”burdensome extraterritoriality” in the late nineteenth century. In order to restrict the detrimental consular jurisdiction, the International Court in a precursory form was first installed in Chiang Mai in 1874. This paper discusses the historical implication of the International Court system on the transitional phase in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth centuries with special focus on the local necessity of the North, which accelerated the implementation of the International Court system. In conclusion, the International Court system was instrumental in the process of internalization of the North into the incipient modern Siamese state. As the internalization involved encroachment upon the previously autonomous northern domain and was equipped with certain colonial practices, it might be described as internal colonization and should be very comparable to the colonization of the adjacent region by the European powers.