24 F. Cas. 962 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York | 1861
charged the jury as follows:
The first question presented in this case is whether or. not the court has jurisdiction of the offence. This depends upon the following clause in the 14th section of the act of congress of March 3d, 1825 [4 Stat. 118], as follows: “And the trial of all offences which shall be committed upon the high seas or elsewhere ou* of the limits of any state or district, shall be in the district where the offender is apprehended, or into which he may be first brought.” The prisoners, who were captured by an armed vessel of the United States, off Charleston,. S. C., were ordered by the commander of the fleet to New-York for trial; but the Minnesota, on board of which they were placed, was destined for Hampton Roads, and it became
But the robbery charged in this case is that which the act of congress prescribes as a crime, and may be denominated a “statute offence” as contradistinguished from that known to the law of nations. The act, as you have seen, declares the person a pirate, punishable by death, who commits the crime of robbery on the high seas against any ship or-vessel, or upon any ship’s company, of any ship or vessel, etc., and the interpretation given to these words applies the crime to the case of depredation upon an American vessel or property on the high seas, under circumstances that would constitute robbery, if the offence was committed on land, and which is, according to the language of Blackstone, the felonious and forcible taking from the person of another of goods or money to any value, by violence or putting him in fear. The felonious intent which describes the state of mind as an element of the offence is what is called, in technical language, “animo furandi,” which means an intent of gaining by another’s loss, or to despoil another of his goods lucri causa, for the sake of gain.
Now, if you are satisfied, upon the evidence, that the prisoners have been guilty of this statute offence of robbery upon the high seas, it is your duty to convict them, though it may fall short of the offence as known to the law of nations. We have stated what constitutes the elements of • the crime, and it is your province to apply the facts to them, and thus determine whether or not the crime has been committed. That duty belongs to you, and not to the court. We have said that, in a state of- war between two nations, the commission to private armed vessels from either of the belligerents affords a defence, according to the law of nations, in the courts of the enemy, against a charge of robbery or piracy on the high seas, of which they might be guilty, in the absence of such authority. And. under this principle, it has been insisted, by the learned counsel for the prisoners, that the commission of the Confederate States by its president, Davis, to the master and crew of the Savannah, which has been given in evidence, affords such defence. In support of this position, it is claimed that the Confederate States have thrown off the power and authority of the general government; have erected a new and independent government in its place; and have maintained it against the whole military and naval power of the former; and that it is, at least, a government de facto, and entitled to the rights and privileges that belong to a sovereign and independent nation. The right to establish such a government, constitutional or otherwise, has been strongly urged; and the laws of nations, and the commentaries of eminent publicists, have been referred to as justifying the secession or revolt of the Confederate States. Great ability and research have been displayed by the learned counsel for the defence on this branch of the case. But the court do not deem it pertinent, or material, to enter into this wide
These, gentlemen, are all the observations we deem necessary to submit to you. The case is an interesting one, not only in the principles involved, but to the government and the prisoners at the bar. It has been argued with a research and ability in proportion to its magnitude, in behalf of both the prisoners and the government; and we do not doubt that, with the aid of these arguments. and the instructions of the court, you will be enabled to render an intelligent and just verdict in the case.
[The foreman. “It was.”
[NELSON, Circuit Justice. We would prefer that the jurymen, or any of them who may be embarrassed with the difficulties referred to; should himself state the inquiry which he desires to make of the court
[Mr. Powell, one of the jurors, said that the question was, “whether, if the jury believed that civil war existed, and had been so recognized by the act of our government, or if the jury believe that the intent to commit a robbery did not exist in the minds of the prisoners at the time, it may influence their verdict;”
[After consultation with SHIPMAN, District Judge, NELSON, Circuit Justice, said: As it respects the first inquiry of the juror— whether the government has recognized a state of civil war between the Confederate States and itself — the instruction which the court gave the jury was, that this court could not recognize a state of civil war, or a government of the Confederate States, unless the legislative and executive departments of the government had recognized such a state of things, or the president had, or both; and that the act of recognition was a national act, and that we must look to the acts of these departments of the government as the evidence and for the evidence of the recognition of this state of things, and the only evidence. As it respects the other question — whether or not, if the jury were of opinion, on the evidence, that these prisoners did not intend to commit a robbery on the high seas against the property of the United States, they were guilty of the offence charged — that is a mixed question of law and fact. JThe court explained to you what constitutes the crime of robbery on the high seas, which was the felonious taking of the property of another upon the high seas by force, by violence, or putting them in fear of bodily injury, which, according to the law, is equivalent to actual force; and that the term “felonious,” as interpreted by the law and the courts, was the taking with a wrongful intent to despoil the others of- their property. These elements constitute the crime of robbery. Now, it is for you to
[Another of the jury — George H. Hansell— rose and said: One of the jury, not myself, understood your honor to charge that there must be an intent to take the property of another for your own use.
[NELSON, Circuit Justice. No, I did not give that instruction. The jury may withdraw.
[The jury again retired, and, as there was no probability of an agreement at half-past seven o'clock, the court adjourned to eleven o’clock Thursday morning.]
The jury were discharged, without being able to agree on a verdict.
[Prom the Report of the Trial of Savannah Privateers, 368 et seq.]
[From the Report of the Trial of Savannah Privateers. 368 et seq.]