The action by Congress seems to exclude State legislation. (Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheat. 1, 22, 23; Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 16 Pet. 608.) Story's Const. 3d ed. p. 615. "WHERE A STATE SHALL BE A PARTY."-That is: 1. Where one In what State is plaintiff, and another State is defendant; 2. Where a three cases State is plaintiff, and an individual, whether a citizen of some other may a State be a party? State or an alien, is defendant. 3. Where a foreign State is plaintiff against one of the United States as defendant. Curtis' Com. $153-157. See Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 12 Pet. 657; New Jersey v. New York, 5 Pet. 283; Pennsylvania v. The Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Co. 13 Howard, 528; Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 5 Pet. 1; Ex parte Juan Madrazo, 7 Pet. 627. where must had? [3.] The trial of all crimes, except in cases of im- How and peachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be trials be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed. 212. "THE TRIAL." (L. Lat. trialio. Exactissima litis contestatæ, Define coram judice, per duodecem virale exagititio. SPELMAN.)—The term trial? means here, the examination before a competent tribunal, according to the laws of the land, of the facts put in issue upon the indictment or presentment, for the purpose of determining the truth of such issues. United States v. Curtis, 4 Mason, 232; Co. Litt. 1246. And see Burrill's Law Dic., TRIAL; Magna Charta, ch. 29 (9 Henry III.); 2 Inst. 45; 3 Black. Com. 379-381; 4 Black. Com. 349, 350; 2 Kent's Com. Lect. 24, pp. 1-9; 3 Elliot's Debates, 331, 339; De Lolme, B. 1, ch. 13, B. 2, ch. 16; Paley, B. 6, ch. 8; 2 Wilson's Law Lect. P. 2, ch. 6, p. 305; Story's Const. 1778-1794. "The trial" per pais, or by the country, is the trial by a jury, who are called the peers of the party accused, being of the like condition and equality in the State. (Magna Charta.) Story's Const. § 1779. "OF ALL CRIMES EXCEPT IN CASES OF IMPEACHMENT."-See What means here? 89. "CRIME" defined, notes 193, 194. Here it means treason, piracy, "crimes" felony, or some offense against the law of nations or an act of the Congress of the United States. And this clause is to be taken subject to the exceptions, in the fifth amendment, as to trials in the land and naval service. The term "crime" here doubtless embraces misdemeanor. In the case of the United States v. Hudson & Goodwin (7 Cranch, 32), it was held that "the legislative authority must first make an act a crime, affix a punishment to it, and declare the court that shall have jurisdiction of the offense," before the courts of the United States can exercise jurisdiction over it. This doctrine was affirmed by the case of the United States v. Coolidge et al. (1 Wheaton, 415), and Chief-Justice Marshall, in delivering the opinion of the court in Ex parte Bollman & Swartwout (4 Cranch, Define jury? 260. Does it make the jury the judges of the law? 231-237. 95), said: "Courts which originate in the common law possess a jurisdiction which must be regulated by the common law, until some statute shall change their established principles; but courts which are created by written law, and whose jurisdiction is defined by written law, can not transcend that jurisdiction." And it was in following these cases that Justice McLean held, in United States v. Lancaster (2 McLean's R. 433), that "the federal government has no jurisdiction of offenses at common law. Even in civil cases the federal government follows the rule of the common law as adopted by the States, respectively. It can exercise no criminal jurisdiction which is not given by statute, nor punish any act, criminally, except as the statute provides." The same doctrine is followed in Kitchen v. Strawbridge, 1 Wash. C. C. R., 84; United States v. New Bedford Bridge, 1 Wood & Minot 401; Ex parte Sullivan, 3 Howard, 103; 12 Peters, 654; 4 Dallas, 10, and note; 1 Kent's Com. 354; Sedgwick on Statutory and Constitutional Law, 17; and Wharton, in reviewing this question, says: "However this may be on the merits, the line of recent decisions puts it beyond doubt that the federal courts will not take jurisdiction over any crimes which have not been placed directly under their control by act of Congress." (Am. Criminal Law, 174.) Report on the Impeachment of the President, 75, 76. "BY A JURY" is generally understood to mean, ex vi termini, a trial by a jury of twelve men, impartially selected (in accordance with law), who must unanimously concur in the guilt of the accused before a conviction can be had. Any law, therefore, dispensing with any of these requisites, may be considered unconstitutional. (Work v. The State, 2 Ohio St. R. 296; The State v. Cox, 3 English, 436; The State v. The People, 2 Parker C. C. 322, 329, 402, 562; 2 Leading Criminal Cases, 327, and note.) Story's Const. 3d edition, 1779. This does not constitute them judges of the law in criminal cases. United States v. Morris, 1 Curt. C. C. 23, 49; United States And v. Shive, Bald. 510; United States v. Battiste, 2 Sumn. 240. see Townsend v. The State, 2 Blackf. (Ind.), 152; Pierce v. The State, 13 N. H. 536; Commonwealth v. Porter, 10 Met. 263; Commonwealth v. Sherry, Wharton on Homicides, 481. It only embraces those crimes which by former laws and customs had been tried by jury. United States v. Duane, Wall. 106. It did not secure to the conspirators who assassinated the President in Washington city during the war, and while martial law existed in Washington city, the right to trial by jury. The Trial of the Conspirators. ments. This section compared with the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendEx parte Milligan, 4 Wallace, 119; Story's Const. § The first of these secures a presentment or indictment by a grand jury before there can be a trial by a jury. Id. And for the reason of these amendments in the shape of a Bill of Rights, see 2 Elliot's Debates, 331, 380-427; 1 Id. 119-122; 3 Id. 139–153, Why in the 300. States where com- 213. IN STATES WHERE COMMITTED.-This was to prevent the mitted? defendant from being dragged into a distant State. (2 Elliot's Debates, 399, 400, 407, 420; 2 Hale's P. C. ch. 24, pp. 260, 264; Many of the States are divided into two or more districts (circuits) defined by law; and the rule of trying the accused in such district is believed to be now strictly adhered to. 214. "BUT WHEN NOT COMMITTED WITHIN ANY STATE, THE Where are TRIAL SHALL BE AT SUCH PLACE OR PLACES AS CONGRESS MAY BY offenders tried? LAW HAVE DIRECTED."-The offenses committed in the District of Columbia have always been tried in the District, under the "exclusive legislation;" those in the organized territories have been tried there by the local courts of the territories; those committed by whites, or by Indians against whites (to a limited extent), have been tried in the States to whose federal courts jurisdiction had been committed by the laws to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes; those committed in forts and arsenals, over which jurisdiction had been ceded by the States, have been tried in the United States District or Circuit Courts in that State; those upon the high seas in the State where the vessel first arrives. So that "NOT COMMITTED IN ANY STATE," may be defined to be offenses committed in the District of Columbia, in forts or arsenals to which jurisdiction has been ceded by the States; in the territories of the United States; in the Indian country; upon the high seas, and everywhere, when against the law of nations. treason? SEC. III.-[1.] Treason against the United States Define shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and com- 192. fort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless By how on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt witnesses ? act, or on confession in open court. many L. Fr. Treson, from Define treason at 215. "TREASON."-[Law Lat. Proditio. treer, trehir, trahir, to betray.] Burrill's Law Dic., TREASON. common The word " ONLY was used to exclude from the criminal juris- law? prudence of the new republic the odious doctrines of constructive Define treason. Its use, however, while liimting the definition to plain "only"? overt acts, brings these acts into conspicuous relief, as being always, and in essence, treasonable. War, therefore, levied against the United States by citizens of the republic, under the pretended authority of the new State government of North Carolina, or the new central government which assumed the title of the "Confederate States," was treason against the United States. Chief-Justice Chase in Shortridge v. Macon (North Carolina), 16th June, 1867. In the prize cases the Supreme Court simply asserted the right of the United States to treat the insurgents as belligerents, and to claim from foreign nations the performance of neutral duties under the penalties known to international law. The decision recognized, also, the fact of the exercise and concession of belligerent rights, and affirmed, as a necessary consequence, the proposition that 117. What of the inhab were during the war all the inhabitants of the country controlled by the relations the rebellion and all the inhabitants of the country loyal to the itants of the Union were enemies reciprocally each of the other. But there is rebel States nothing in that opinion which gives countenance to the doctrine to those loy- which counsel endeavor to deduce from it: that the insurgent States, by the act of rebellion, and by levying war against the nation, became foreign States, and their inhabitants alien enemies. United States v. Shortridge. Id. al to the Union? What is the effect of sequestration? What war is Held, that the enforced payment of a debt under the confederate sequestration laws, was no protection. It was denied that the 'Confederate States" was a de facto government. For the enumeration of the acts of treason in England, see 4 Steph. Com. 185-193; 4 Bl. Com. 76-84; Wharton's American Crim. Law, B. 7, ch. 1, § 2715-2777. Burrill's Law Dic., TREASON. There must be an actual levying of war; a conspiracy to subvert necessary? the government by force is not treason; nor is the mere enlistment of men, who are not assembled, a levying of war. Ex parte Bollman, 4 Cr. 75; United States v. Hanway, 2 Wall. Jr. 140; Id. 136; 4 Am. L. J. 83. And no man can be convicted of treason, who was not present when the war was levied. 2 Burr's Trial, 401, 439; and see the same case, Appendix to 4 Cranch, 469–508. See United States v. Willberger, 5 Wheat. 97. From whence copied ? What is a levying of war? To what refer? The whole definition is copied from the statute of 25 Ed. III., ch. 2; 1 Hale's Pleas of the Crown, 259; Judge Marshall's charge in Burr's Trial; Story's Const. § 1799. See 3 Wilson's Law Lect., ch. 5, pp. 95, 96; Montesquieu Spirit of Laws, B. 12, ch. 7; 4 Bl. Com. 75-84. The definition admits of no constructive treasons. Federalist, No. 43; Story's Const. § 1798; Jefferson's Correspondence, 72-103. If war be actually levied, that is, if a body of men be actually assembled for the purpose of effecting by force a treasonable purpose, all who perform any part, however minute, or however remote from the scene of action, and who are actually leagued in the general conspiracy, are to be considered as traitors. But there must be an actual assemblage of men for the treasonable purpose, to constitute a levy of war. (Ex parte Bollman, 4 Cr. 126; United States v. Burr, 4 Cr. 469-508; Sergts. Const. ch. 30 [32]; People v. Lynch, 1 John. 553.) And further, for the definition of treason, see United States v. Hoxie, 1 Paine, 265; United States v. Hanway, 2 Wallace, Jr. 139; Regina v. Frost, 9 C. & P. 129; 2 Bishop on Cr. Law, § 1032. Treason is a breach of allegiance, and can be committed by him only, who owes allegiance either perpetual or temporary. States v. Willberger, 5 Wheat. 97. United 216. TWO WITNESSES.-The evidence, it seems, refers to the trial does it proofs on trial, and not to the preliminary hearing before the committing magistrate, or the proceeding before the grand inquest. United States v. Hanway, 2 Wall. Jr. 138; 1 Burr's Trial, 196. But see Fries's Trial, 14 Whart. St. Tr. 480, and the same in 2 pamphlet, 171. There must be, as there should be, the concurrence of two witnesses to the same overt act, that is, open act of treason, who are above all reasonable exception. (United States v. Burr, 4 Cr. 469, 496, 503, 505, 506, 607; Greenleaf's Ev. § 237.) limitation [2.] The Congress shall have power to declare the What is the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason on the shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, during the life of the person attainted. punish except ment? 217. PUNISHMENT OF TREASON.-Punishment is the penalty of Define the law, inflicted after judgment or sentence. For the English punishpunishment of treason, see Story's Const. § 1298, and notes. The punishment was first declared by Congress to be death by hanging. Act of 30th April, 1790, ch. 36, 1 St. 112, § 1, note (a). It is now death or imprisonment. Act of 17th January, 1862, 12 St. 589, 590. See 1 Brightly's Digest, 201, § 1, notes a to h; Wharton's Criminal Laws, § 1117-1120; Id. 2719-2736; 2 Brightly, 100, 101. ATTAINDER OF TREASON.-See Bill of Attainder, note 142. ment? 142. of blood? "CORRUPTION OF BLOOD."--By corruption of blood all inheritable Define qualities are destroyed; so that an attainted person can neither corruption inherit lands nor other hereditaments from his ancestors, nor retain those he is already in possession of, nor transmit them to any heir. Story's Const. § 1299, 1300; 4 Bl. Com. 381-388. The power of punishing treason against the United States is exclusively in Congress. (The People v. Lynch, 11 Johns. 553; Rawle's Const. ch. 11, pp. 140-143; Id. ch. 21, p. 207; Sergeant's Const. ch. 30 [ch. 32.]; Story's Const. § 1301. ARTICLE IV. shall be what acts, SEC. I.-Full faith and credit shall be given in each What credit State to the public acts, records, and judicial proceed given to ings of every other State. And the Congress may- &c.? by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and Who may the effect thereof. prescribe the proofs ? 218. "FULL FAITH AND CREDIT," as the cases cited will show, Define full means that credit, which the State itself gives, not to the mode of faith? proof, but to the acts when proven. "PUBLIC ACTS."-This has reference to the legislative acts and Public resolves; that is, to the laws of the State. acts? "RECORDS" are the registration of deeds or the civil law records Records? of titles, as in Louisiana, the registration of wills, public documents, archives, legislative journals; and, in fact, all acts, legislative, executive, judicial, and ministerial, which constitute the public records of a State. McGrew v. Watrous, 16 Tex. 509, 512; White v. Burnley, 20 How. 250; Paschal's Annotated Digest, Art. 3710, note 835. Define judicial are the proceedings and judgments proceed JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS which appertain to courts of record. ings? |