Noah Haynes Swayne

“ Such contracts are not only illegal and void, but repugnant to every principle of public policy. The law will not permit the citizen, in the perils of war, to subject himself to such a temptation to swerve from his duty to his country. ”

“ It is said there cannot be, at the same time, war for arms and peace for commerce. The sanction of the sovereign is indispensable for trade. A state of war ipso facto forbids it. The government only can relax the rigor of the rule. ”

“ The 5th section of the act of July 16th, 1861, anthorized the President to proclaim any State, or part of a State, in a condition of insurrection, and it declared that thereupon all commercial intercourse between that territory and the citizens of the rest of the United States should be unlawful so long as hostilities should continue, and that all goods and merchandise, coming from such territory into other parts of the United States, and all proceeding to such territory by land or water, and the vessel or vehicle conveying them, should be forfeited. ”

“ The cotton was all within the rebel lines. This state of things continued until the surrender of the rebel forces under General Taylor. Consular certificates were given by the plaintiff, each setting forth that the cotton therein referred to was 'the property of a British subject.'
In the progress of the trial numerous exceptions were taken by the defendants. Some of them relate to the rejection of testimony; the residue to instructions given or refused. The view which we take of the case renders it necessary to consider only those which relate to the legality of the contract. ”

“ A trading consul, in all that concerns his trade, is liable in the same way as a native merchant. [2] The character of consul does not give any protection to that of merchant when they are united in the same person. [3]
By the terms of the contract, Hall was to 'furnish' the cotton to Coppell. ”

“ Whenever the illegality appears, whether the evidence comes from one side or the other, the disclosure is fatal to the case. No consent of the defendant can neutralize its effect. A stipulation in the most solemn form to waive the objection, would be tainted with the vice of the original contract, and void for the same reasons. Wherever the contamination reaches, it destroys. ”

“ Such wars are regarded not as wars of the governments only, but of all the inhabitants of their respective countries. The sovereign may license trade, but in so far as it is done, it is a suspension of war, and a return to the condition of peace. ”

“ By a circular from the Treasury Department of the 3d of July, 1863, it was declared to be the purpose of the department: '3d, to allow no intercourse at all beyond the national and within the rebel lines of military occupation ”