Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/24/467.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 17:29:56+00:00

Document:
[24 U.S. 467, 468] March 16th.
The defendant, Juan Gualberto de Ortega, was indicted in the Circuit Court of the United States for the eastern District of Pennsylvania, for infracting the law of nations, by offering violence to the person of Hilario de Rivas y Salmon, the charge d'affaires of his Catholic Majesty the King of Spain in the United States, contrary to the law of nations, and to the act of the Congress of the United States in such case provided. The jury having found a verdict of guilty, the defendant moved in arrest of judgment, and assigned for cause, 'that the Circuit Court has not jurisdiction of the matter charged in the indictment, inasmuch as it is a case affecting an ambassador or other public minister.' The opinions of the Judges of that Court upon this point being opposed, the cause comes before this Court upon a certificate of such disagreement.
The questions to which the point certified by the Court below gives rise, are, first, whether this is a case affecting an ambassador or other public minister, within the meaning of the second section of the third article of the constitution of the United States. If it be, then the next question would be, whether the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in such cases, is not only original, but exclusive of the Circuit Courts, under the true construction of the above section and article.
The last question need not be decided in the present case, because the Court is clearly of [24 U.S. 467, 469] opinion, that this is not a case affecting a public minister, within the plain meaning of the constitution. It is that of a public prosecution, instituted and conducted by and in the name of the United States, for the purpose of vindicating the law of nations, and that of the United States, offended, as the indictment charges, in the person of a public minister, by an assault committed on him by a private individual. It is a case, then, which affects the United States, and the individual whom they seek to punish; but one in which the minister himself, although he was the person injured by the assault, has no concern, either in the event of the prosecution, or in the costs attending it.
It is ordered to be certified to the Circuit Court for the eastern District of Pennsylvania, that that Court has jurisdiction of the matter charged in the indictment, the case not being one which affects an ambassador or other public minister.
The question whether the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in 'all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls,' is exclusive as well as original, under the constitution, so as to preclude Congress from vesting in any other tribunal jurisdiction over such cases, has never been decided in terms by this Court. But, it was held, as early as the year 1793, in the Circuit Court for the District of Pennsylvania, by WILSON and PETERS, J. J. (IREDELL, J. dissenting,) that the jurisdiction in a criminal prosecution against a foreign consul, who was indicted for a misdemeanor at common law, was constitutionally vested in that Court, under the 11th section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, c. 20. ( The United States v. Ravara, 2 Dall. Rep. 297.) It has, however, been expressly determined by this Court, that the clause of the constitution giving the Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction in all other cases than those in which original jurisdiction is granted, does not exclude the Court from exercising appellate jurisdiction in cases 'arising under the constitution, laws, and treaties of the [24 U.S. 467, 472] Union,' and in 'cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,' although an ambassador, other public minister, or consul, may be a party. If, for example, a foreign minister is sued in a State Court by an individual, and that Court should take jurisdiction, and give judgment against the minister, the Supreme Court of the United States may revise the judgment under the appellate powers given to it by the 25th section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, c. 20. So, where the inferior Courts of the Union take cognizance, as Courts of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, of suits brought by foreign consuls in maritime causes in which their fellow citizens are interested, the appellate power of this Court has been constantly exercised. [See the judgment of this Court in the case of Cohens v. Virginia, ante, vol. VI. pp. 396-401. In which the previous case of Marbury v. Madison, (1 Cranch's Rep. 174) is revised and explained.] But where the jurisdiction depends merely upon the character of the counsul, and not upon the nature of the case, the question has never been determined by this Court, whether Congress could invest any other tribunal than the Supreme Court, with original jurisdiction.
It has been decided by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, that the State Courts have no jurisdiction of any suit brought against a foreign consul or vice-consul. (Mannhardt v. Soderstorm, 1 Binn. Rep. 138.) There seems to be no reason to doubt the correctness of this adjudication, the constitution giving to the national judiciary cognizance of 'all cases affecting consuls,' and Congress having, by the 9th section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, c. 20., vested the District Courts of the Union with jurisdiction of various matters both of a criminal and civil nature, in some of which their jurisdiction is exclusive of the State Courts, and, in others, concurrent with them; and towards the latter part of the section, the District Courts being vested with jurisdiction 'exclusively of the Courts of the several States, of all suits against consuls or vice- consuls, except for offences above the description aforesaid.' The word suits includes those both of a civil and criminal nature; and the exception of 'offences above the description aforesaid,' refers to a description in the first part of the section, viz. offences where no other punishment than whipping not exceeding thirty stripes, a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months, is to be inflicted. [24 U.S. 467, 473] The Circuit Courts of the Union have jurisdiction concurrently with the District Courts, of offences within that description, in cases affecting consuls; and the Circuit Courts have exclusive jurisdiction of offences above that description, in cases affecting consuls. It has also been determined by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, that this last jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts is not only exclusive of the District Courts, but of the State Courts. Upon this ground, an indictment for a criminal offence under the laws of Pennsylvania, against the Russian Consul General, was quashed for want of jurisdiction by that Court, in 1816. (Commonwealth v. Kosloff, 5 Serg. & Rawle, 545.) In delivering the judgment of the Court in that case, Mr. Chief Justice TILGHMAN also examined the question, as to the nature and extent of the privileges of consuls under the law of nations, and decided that the privilege of immunity from criminal prosecutions was not conferred on them by that law. It had been previously determined by the English Court of K. B., in 1814, that they were not privileged as public ministers from arrest in civil cases. (Vivian v. Beeker, 3 Maul. & Selw. 284.) And the authorities, cited from the text writers on the law of nations, in these two cases, show that consuls are in no respect privileged as public ministers.
It results from the above provisions of the constitution, the acts of Congress, and the judicial expositions which have been given to them: 1. That no civil suit or criminal prosecution can be commenced against a foreign ambassador, other public minister, or consul, in any State Court. 2. That such ambassador, public minister, or consul, may, at his election, commence a suit in a State Court, (in other respects of competent jurisdiction,) against an individual. 3. That an ambassador, or other public minister, cannot be proceeded against in any civil case, by compulsory process, in any Court whatever. 4. That a consul may be sued, or proceeded against, civilly or criminally, in the Courts of the Union, in the same manner as a private individual. 5. That in civil suits against a consul, and in criminal prosecutions against him, within the limits of the criminal jurisdiction of the District Courts, the District Courts have jurisdiction of such suits or prosecutions. [24 U.S. 467, 474] 6. That in criminal prosecutions against consuls, for offences above the description of those cognizable in the District Courts, the Circuit Courts have exclusive jurisdiction, and concurrent jurisdiction with the District Courts in the other cases cognizable therein. 7. That the Supreme Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction of such suits or prosecutions against ambassadors, and other public ministers, as any Court of justice can exercise consistently with the law of nations. 8. That the Supreme Court has original, but not exclusive, jurisdiction of suits brought by ambassadors, or other public ministers, or in which a consul is a party. 9. That the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction of all cases, in which a minister or consul is a party, arising in the State Courts, and involving the construction of the national constitution, or the validity and construction of the laws and treaties of the Union, under the restrictions mentioned in the 25th section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, c. 20. 10. That the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction of all civil suits brought in the Courts of the Union, having original jurisdiction of the suit, where a minister or consul is a party, and the matter in dispute exceeds the sum of two thousand dollars.

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