Samuel Blatchford

“ The judiciary act defined the state as the district, not the state as either party to the dispute claimed it to be; and the effect of the change of state boundary in the present case, on the limits of judicial districts, must be held to be as potent as that in the case of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, notwithstanding the affirmative provision, in the act in the latter case, as to the jurisdiction of the United States and of the departments of its goverment. Congress has always left judicial districts to be confined within state limits. ”

“ Of course, the district, as a place of trial, must be ascertained by law before the crime was committed, and a person charged with a crime cannot be tried for it in a district which did not include, when the crime was committed, the place where it was committed. Whether a change in the boundary of a state, and thus of a district, after the commission of a crime, and before a trial for it, would have the effect of preventing a trial in any district, is a question which must be decided when it shall arise. ”

“ The state of New Jersey shall have the exclusive jurisdiction of and over the wharves, docks, and improvements made and to be made on the shore of the said state, and of and over all vessels aground on said shore, or fastened to any such wharf or dock, except that the said vessels shall be subject to the quarantine or health laws, and laws in relation to passengers, of the state of New York, which now exist or which may hereafter be passed. ”