Year: 1859

That sterling Democratic paper, the n. 0, Courier,
publishes the following:


The names attached 10 crimes by the precise and
comprehensive nomenclature Of the common law suf.
fer little change. Among these designation Of crimes
is +" piracy" word which bears the same meaning
now tina. il bore centuries ago highway robbery
committed on those who travel upon the sea. the
highway Of nations. Legislatures prescribe The pun.
ishment to he inflicted for various crimes The modes
Of trial, the rules Of procedure, sometimes the laws
of evidence in criminal prosecutions but seldom if
ever do they attempt to say what constitutes crime
of certain class and rarely do they decree that
tain actsn not previously known crimes shall be class,
ed with them.


Least OF all are we accustomed to look TO any Of
the general statutes Of our Federal Legislature for
definitions ofwordS in the criminal vocabulary Those
who elaborated and established the constitution in.
tended to place in the hands of the government sfi-
cicnt power to secure obedience to laws made in con
formty to it and in pursuance of it, It's criminal in.
risdiction was by its nature limited and could have
little scope except offences constituted by DISC
bed,ence to federal statutes This is further apparent
from the care taken TO define in the constitution the
crime of treason almost the only one mentioned in
that instrument a limiting definition which indicates
their fear of giving Congress the power to bring of
fences within their jurisdiction by forced construc
tions of the terms of law.


1t has always appeared to us that, whatever may
be the power of Congress to prohibit the foreign slave
trade or to provide for furnishing the Infringement o.
laws made to suppress it, they called upon
to declare such trade piracy act to which trading
in slaves bears no resemblance whatever II seems
not little paradoxcal to attach the name of one o.
the most odious and henous ofcrmes to trade which
the Constitution expressly sanctions for any time pre-
vious to 1905 and would equally sanction now if tn,
statutes prohibiting that trade were repealed. The
learned in criminal law draw distinction between
acts which are punishable because intrnscally WRONG
and those which are punishable because they are VIC
lations of statute law--maM IN Sc and mala prohibita
The offence of bringing African slaves into the United
States is clearly of the latter class and an offence on
ly because It is in violation of laws which Congress
made within the latitude prescribed by the Constitu
ton. Few here deem such trade wrong in itself an,
more than did the makers of the Constitution who de
clared that it should not be prohibited prior to GER
tain date uence the absurdy of attempting t.
classify it among the most terrible of crimes by call
ing it piracy" and those who participate in it nj
ratcc Nor do think that this gratuitous declara
ton should be needed by such courts and jurors a.
are called upon to punish violations of the slave
trade law.


But the declaration of congress that this or that ac
is piracy does not make it SO; it is merely mora
homly engrafted on prohibtory law, barren twja
on the tree Of Federal Legislation.