An emolument is any compensation, fee, gain, or perquisite that flows to a person by virtue of holding an office or position. The word predates modern usage and historically covered everything from a stipend to in-kind benefits such as housing, travel, or gifts. In contemporary political and legal discourse, the term is most often encountered in two contexts: civil service compensation rules and constitutional restrictions on officeholders accepting outside benefits.
In the United States, the term gained renewed prominence because of two clauses in the Constitution. The Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8) bars federal officeholders from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State" without congressional consent. The Domestic Emoluments Clause (Article II, Section 1, Clause 7) prohibits the President from receiving any emolument from the federal government or the states beyond the fixed presidential salary. Litigation over these clauses surged during the Trump administration, with cases such as CREW v. Trump, District of Columbia and Maryland v. Trump, and Blumenthal v. Trump testing whether payments to Trump-owned businesses by foreign governments qualified. The Supreme Court in January 2021 vacated the pending cases as moot after Trump left office, leaving the scope of "emolument" judicially unresolved.
Beyond the U.S., the term appears in:
- UK and Commonwealth tax law, where "emoluments" historically described taxable employment income under Schedule E (replaced in 2003 by the "employment income" regime in ITEPA).
- EU and international civil service rules, where staff regulations distinguish basic salary from allowances and other emoluments.
- Diplomatic practice, where gifts to officials are regulated to prevent undue foreign influence, echoing concerns about corruption that motivated the original constitutional drafters in 1787.
For researchers, the key analytical question is usually whether a given benefit is connected to the office and whether disclosure or consent requirements have been met.
Example
In 2017, attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed suit alleging that payments by foreign diplomats at the Trump International Hotel in Washington violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, in the broad historical sense, but modern constitutional debates usually focus on additional benefits, gifts, or profits beyond a fixed salary set by law.
Keep learning