Letter of credence (redirected from letters of credence)

LETTER OF CREDENCE, international law. A written instrument addressed by the sovereign or chief magistrate of a state, to the sovereign or state to whom a public minister is sent, certifying his appointment as such, and the general objects of his mission, and requesting that full faith and credit may be given to what he shall do and say on the part of his court.
     2. When it is given to an ambassador, envoy, or minister accredited to a sovereign, it is addressed to the sovereign or state to whom the minister is delegated in the case of a charge d'affaires, it is addressed by the secretary or minister of state charged with the department of foreign affairs to the minister of foreign affairs of the other government. Wheat. International Law, pt. 3, c. 1, Sec. 7; Wicquefort, de l'Ambassadeur, l. 1, Sec. 15.