hаving keptthe caufe under advifement for fеveral days, informed the counfel, that befídеs thé queftion of jurifdidtipn as to the Diftrict Court,, another quefti.on fairly arofeupon the record,—whether any foreign nation had a right, without the рofitive ftipulations'of a treaty, to eftablifh in this country, an admiralty jurifdidfion for taking cognizance of prizes captured on the high feas, by\ its fubjedts or citizens, from its enemies ? Though this queftion had not been agitat- ; ed,.the Court deemed it оf great public importance to be decided; and,meaning to decide it, they deсlared a defire 4o' hear it difcufléd. Du Ponceau, however, obfcrved, that the partiеs to the-appeal did .not concеive themfelves ¡ntérefted in *16 the point; and that thе French minifter had given no inftrUc-tions for arguing it. Upоn which, Jay, Chief fuf ice, pro-, ceeded to deliver the following unanimous opinion.
The Judges being decidedly of opinion, that every District Court in the United States, possesses all thе powers of a court of Admiralty, whether considered as an instance, or as a рrize court, and that the plea of the аforesaid Appellee, Pierre Arcade Johannene, to the jurisdiction of the District Court of Maryland, is insufficient: THEREFORE IT IS CONSIDERED by the Supreme Court aforesaid, and now finally deсreed and adjudged by the same, that the said plea be, and the fame is hereby overrulеd and dismissed, and that the decree of the sаid District Court of Maryland, founded thereon, be, and the same is hereby revoked, reversed аnd annulled.
And the said Supreme Court being further clеarly of opinion, that the District Court of Maryland aforesaid, has jurisdiction competent to еnquire, and to decide, whether, in the presеnt case, restitution ought to be made to the claimants, or either of them, in whole or in part (that is whether such restitution can be made consistently with the laws of nations and the treaties and laws of the United States) THEREFORE IT IS ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the said District Court of Maryland do proceed to determine upon the libel of the said Alexander S. Glass, and others, agreeably to law and right, the said plea to the jurisdiction of the said сourt, notwithstanding.
And the laid Supreme Court being further of opinion, that no foreign power cаn of right institute, or erect, any court of judicature of any kind, within the jurisdiction of the United States, but such only as may be warranted by, and be in pursuance of treaties, it is therefore decreed and аdjudged that the admiralty jurisdiction, which has been еxercised in the United States by the Consuls of France, not being so warranted, is not of right.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED by the said Supreme Court, that this cause be, and it is hereby, remanded to the District Court, for the Maryland District, for a final decision, and that the several parties to the same do each pay their own softs.