R-158 

OFFICE OF 

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

AUSTIIV,TEXAS 

PRICE DANIEL 

.4+tcmNFz GEXlmAL June 2, 1947 

Honorable Homer Carrlson, Jr., Dlreotor, 

Texas Department of Pub110 Safety, 

Camp Mabry , 

Auatln 9, Taxes. 

Opinion No. V-229 

Re: Authority of State 

Highway Patrolman 

to make arrests 

aboard ships in 

Texas ports under 

oertaln oondltiona. 

Dear Sir: 

Your request for an opinion la as follows: 

“Please advise the authority or a Taxes 

Highway Patrolman to make an arrest under the 

following conditions: 

“A person oommlts a misdemeanor within 

sight of a Patrolman. Before the person can 

be apprehended he goes aboard a ship tlylng 

the flag of this oountry, which ship 1s tied 

up to a dook In the Houston ship ohannel. 

Can the Patrolman go aboard the ship and make 

the arrest? Would there be any difference if 

the offe’nsa committed was a felony? Would it 

be neoessary ror the Patrolman to secure a 

warrant OS arrest before going aboard the ship, 

even though he was in pursuit of the person 

committing the violation when that person want 

aboard the ship? should the ship be tlying the 

flag of a toreign country, would this make any 

diff%renca in the arrest prooadure? 

nAsauma that a Texas Highway Patrolman 
~Bonorable Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 2 

has a misdemeanor warrant for a person who 

is aboard a ship, can the Patrolman serve 

the warrant on the ship? Can he serve a 

felony warrant on the ship, either flying 

the flag of this country or the flag of a 

foreign country? Would it make any difference if the ship was anchored in the channel and not tied up at the dock?" 

Artiole 212 of Vernon's Code of Crimjnal Procedure reads as follows: 

"A peace officer or any other person, 

may, without warrant, arrest an offender 

when the offense Is committed in his prea- . 

ence or within his view, if the offense is 

one classed as a felony, or as an 'offense 

against the public peaoe.lw 

Article 215 of Vernon's Code of Criminal Procedure provides: 

"Where It is shown by satisfactory 

proof to a peace officer, upon the representation of a credible person, that a 

felony has been committed, and that the offender is about to escape, so that there Is 

no time to procure a warrant, suoh peace officer may, without warrant, pursue.and arrest 

the aocused.n 

Article 216 of Vernon's Code of Criminal Prooedura provides: 

"In each case enumerated where arrests 

may be lawfully uade without warrant, the officer or person &king the arrest is justified 

in adopting all the measures which.he might 

adopt in cases of arrest under warrant." 

Article 37 of Vernon's Code of Criminal Procedure reads: 

"It is the duty of every peaoa officer 

to preserve the peace within his jurisdiction. 

To effect this purpose., he shall use all lSWful means, He shall, inevery case where he 

is authorized by the provisions of this Code, 

Interfere without warrant to prevent or suppress crime. He shall execute all lawful 
Honorable Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 3 

process issued to him by any magistrate or 

oourt. He shall give notice to some magistrate of all offenses committed within his 

juriadlotion,.whare ha has good reason to 

believe therehas been a violation of the 

penal law. He shall arrest offenders without warrant in every case where he is authorized by law, in order that they may be 

taken before the proper magistrate or court 

and be tried." 

In addition to oertain other powers granted to 

the Texas Highway Patrol by Article 4413 (12), V. C. S., the 

officers were further clothed with all of the powers and authority given to members of the Taxes Ranger Force. 

Section (4) of Article 4413 (ll), V. C. S., in 

speaking of the Ranger force provides: 

"The officers shall be clothed with 

all the powers of peace officers, and shall 

aid in the execution of the laws." 

Assuming the ships In question to be merchant 

ships and not warships of our Navy or of a foreign power, 

we will answer your inquiries on that premise. 

Wheaton's Elements of International Law, Sixth 

Edition, at page 151, reads as follows: 

"According to the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, where, without treaty, the ports of a nation are open to 

the public and private ships of a friendly 

power, whose subjects have also liberty, without special license, to enter the country for 

business or amusement, a clear distinction was 

to be drawn between the rights accorded to prlvate individuals,or private trading vessels? 

and those accorded to public armed ships which 

constitute a part of the military force of the 

nation. 

"When private individuals of one nation 

spread themselves through another as business 

or caprice may direct, mingling lndlscriminately with the inhabitants of that other; or when 

merchant vessels enter for the purposes Of trade, 

it would be obviously inconvenient and dangerous 
Honorable Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 4 

to society, and would subject the laws to continual infraction, and the government to degradation, if such individuals did not owe 

temporary and local allegiance, and were not 

amenable to the jurisdiction of the country. 

Nor can the foreign sovereign have any motive 

for wishing such exemption. His subjects, 

then, passing into foreign countries, are not 

employed by him, nor are they engaged in national pursuits. Consequently there are powerful motives for not exempting persons of this 

description from the jurisdiction of the country in which they are found, and no motive for 

requiring it. The implied license, therefore, 

under which they enter, can never be construed 

to grant such exemption. 

" . . . 

"Upon these principles, by the unanimous 

oonsent of nations, a foreigner is amenable to 

the laws of the place; but certainly, in practice, nations have not yet asserted their jurlsdiction over the public armed ships of a foreign sovereign, entering a port open for their 

r0c0pt10n.* 

It therefore follows that merchant ships of a 

friendly power entering ports of this State are in the same 

category as merchant ships of the United States in such 

ports, and If peace officers are allowed to go aboard United 

States ships to make arrests, they would be so authorized in 

the case of merchant ships of a foreign nation in the absence 

of treaties to the contrary. 

The case of Xx Part6 Ponzi, 290 S. W. 170, involved the arrest of a person aboard an Italian merchant 

ship, at the port of New Orleans by a deputy sheriff Of 

Texas who returned to Texas with the prisoner. Although 

the Texas deputy sheriff did not actually go aboard the 

ship to make the arrest, but by an arrangement with the 

second officer had the prisoner sent ashore where the arrest was made, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held 

that a private ship, entering a foreign jurisdiction, becomes subject to the laws and control of the country visited, in the absence of treaty stipulations to the ContlgrY, 

and any crime committed there may be punished by 10001 laws. 

Under the authority of the above cited StakUteS 
Honorable Homer Garrison, Jr. - Page 5 

and the case of Bx Part6 Ponzi, It is the opinion of this 

department that if a person commits a misdemeanor, which 

Is an offense against the public peace, or a felony, within the sight of a Highway Patrolman, and goes aboard a 

merchant ship of the United States or any foreign power, 

the patrolman has the authority to go aboard the ship to 

make the arrest without a warrant, if said patrolman was 

in "fresh pursuit" of the offender. It is also the opinion of this department that a Highway Patrolman may serve 

either a misdemeanor or felony warrant on a United States 

merchant ship or a merchant ship of a foreign power that 

is In a Texas port. The fact that the ship is anchored 

In the channel or "in the stream" Is of no consequence. 

It should be noted, however, that this authority does not extend to men of war or armed warships 

of the United States or any foreign nation. The same 

rule of entering upon a government reservation to make 

an arrest would apply in such cases. 

SUMMARY 

State Highway Patrolman are npeaoe ofricers,W and if a person commits a misdemeanor 

which is an offense against the public peace, 

or felony, within their sight, they have the 

authority, while still in "fresh pursuitn to 

go aboard a merchant ship of the United States 

or of any foreign power, in a Texas port, to 

arrest the offender without a warrant. (Art. 

$45 (F's 7. G. S., Arts. 37, 212, 215, 216, 

. . . . 

Such officers are authorized to serve 

eithe~r a misdemeanor or felony warrant on a 

United States merchant vessel or a merohant 

ship of a foreign nation that is in a Texas 

port. The fact that the ship may be in the 

channel is of no consequence. 

Yours very truly 

RAH/JMc ATMRNBY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

L Robert A. Ball 

Assistant