page_title: Criminal law in the Marshall Court
section_title: Embargos
hierarchical_section_title: Criminal law in the Marshall Court / Defining federal crimes / Embargos
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kuh (Schweizer Braunvieh), unterhalb der Fuorcla Sesvenna im schweizer Engadin. English: Cow (Swiss Braunvieh breed), below Fuorcla Sesvenna in the Engadin, Switzerland. Français&#160;: Vache (Brune Suisse ou Brune des Alpes) vue sous la Fuorcla Sesvenna dans l'Engadine, en Suisse.
context_page_description: The Marshall Court heard forty-one criminal law cases, slightly more than one per year. Among such cases are United States v. Simms, United States v. More, Ex parte Bollman, United States v. Hudson, Cohens v. Virginia, United States v. Perez, Worcester v. Georgia, and United States v. Wilson.
  During Marshall's tenure, the Supreme Court had no general appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases. The Court could review criminal convictions from the state courts, but not the lower federal courts, via writs of error. It only did so twice. The Court could hear original habeas petitions, but disclaimed the authority to grant the writ post-conviction unless the sentence had already been completed. Thus, the majority of the Marshall Court's opinions on criminal law were issued in response to questions certified by divided panels of the circuit courts by a certificate of division.
  Most of the Marshall Court's criminal opinions involved defining the elements of federal crimes. Criminal statutes considered by the Court during this period involved assimilative crimes, counterfeiting, embargoes, insurance fraud, piracy, and slave trading.
context_section_description: War of 1812
  In June 1812, during the War of 1812, Congress passed a statute prohibiting the transportation "over land or otherwise, in any wagon, cart, sleigh, boat, or otherwise, naval or military stores, arms or the munitions of war, or any article of provision, from any place of the United States, to" Canada. In United States v. Barber (1815), the Court held "fat cattle" to be "provisions, or munitions of war, within the true intent and meaning of the act." In United States v. Sheldon (1817), decided after the war had ended, Barber was distinguished on the grounds that driving cattle on foot was not "transportation" within the meaning of the act.
  Neutrality Act of 1818
  The Neutrality Act of 1818 provided the arming of a vessel with the intention that it be employed against a people at peace with the United States. In United States v. Quincy (1832), the Court decided several questions concerning the interpretation of the Neutrality Act. First, the Court held that the elements of the offense did not require that the vessel be fitted out within the United States, but rather than an intention to fit the vessel out in an intermediary port was sufficient. Second, the Court held that a conditional intention (for example, an intention to so arm the vessel only if sufficient funds could be obtained) was insufficient to satisfy the elements of the offense. Third, the Court held that, if the defendant had a fixed intention to so arm the vessel upon leaving the United States, the frustration of that intention at the intermediate port was irrelevant. Fourth, the Court refused to distinguish between the statutory term of "people" and the concept of a "state."
caption: The Court held that cattle were a provision or munition of war.
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