Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/138

112 Before the answer of the Judges had been received, Washington's efforts to maintain neutrality had re- ceived a further blow by the outcome of another case involving the neutrality of the country. While the question of the extent of the power of the Federal Ad- miralty Courts over French prizes was still unsettled, the problem of the effective enforcement of our neu- trality in criminal cases in the Federal Courts had given the Grovemment even more concern. Prior to 1794, there were no Federal criminal statutes on the subject, and the important questions were presented : Could a person who violated the law of nations or the provisions of a treaty be punishable criminally in the Federal Courts? Did the common law afford a basis for a criminal indictment in these Courts ? These ques- tions had been answered aflSrmatively by Chief Justice Jay, as early as May 22, 1793, in a charge to the Grand Jury in the Federal Circuit Court at Richmond, and by Judge Wilson, July 22, in a charge to the Grand Jury in the Federal Circuit Court at Philadelphia. ^ On July 27, an indictment was found in Philadelphia, against one Gideon Henfield, charging him with act- ing as prizemaster on the Citizen Genet, a French priva- teer fitted up and commissioned in the United States and attacking and seizing ships of a nation with which the United States was at peace, in violation of the laws of nations and of the treaties and laws of the United States. The case aroused great excitement, for it was

£. Baldwin, 32-38 ; The Supreme Court, by George P. Costigan, Yale Law Joum, (1907), XVI. See alao Dewhuret v. CouUhard, 3 Dallas, 409.

^ American Daily AdverHeer, July 25, 26, 1793 ; General Advertiser, July 26, 1793; for account of the case of United States v. Ravara in which the power of the United States Courts to try a person indicted for a common law crime was again upheld, ibid,, July 27, 1798. Even as early as the first Circuit Court held in Massachusetts in 1790, Jay had stated to the Grand Juiy that ''the objects of your inquiry are all offences committed against the laws of the United States", and "you will recollect that the laws of nations make part of the laws of the Nation. " Independent Chronicle, May 27, 1790.