“ Why then should a condemnation, which is but the exercise of another species of sovereign power, place the property in a state of absolute immunity? The position taken on the other side, that decrees of a Court of competent jurisdiction are always binding, and exclude all inquiry, is far from sound. The general doctrine is well known, but its extent and its exceptions are equally well known. ”

“ There can be no necessity for producing the libel, if the sentence itself shows what the libel would show: and in this case the decree sets forth every fact which would appear on the face of the libel, or which is material to establish the conclusiveness of the proceedings. The decree accompanies the possession of the vessel, the essential muniment of her title. This Court has never asserted a right to look beyond the sentence of condemnation. It has always admitted its conclusiveness, even as to collateral effects. ”

“ As to the doctrine of comity, it is founded on the supposition of the utmost good faith, and there must be a perfect reciprocity in order to support it. Is it not too much to require of any nation, on the ground of comity, to permit foreign powers to confederate with the worst class of our people, in insulting and trampling on our solemn treaties, neutral obligations, and explicit laws of public policy?
But it is supposed to be a second ground of this doctrine of conclusiveness, that the whole world have notice, and are parties to the proceedings in a prize Court, they being in rem. ”

“ A defective title may indeed be rendered good by the purchase of outstanding good titles; but here is no outstanding interest in the subject matter, but in the United States. The condemnation then could only corroborate the title which he had gained, and could not clothe him with a better one.
Mr. Harper also argued on the same side; but
Mr. Winder, in reply, denied the authority of the supposed rule that a decree of sentence or a Court of Admiralty cannot be given in evidence, without producing the libel, or other proceedings. ”

“ In a case like the present, the Court will require the most satisfactory information that can be furnished. Where a case is free from suspicion and difficulty of any kind, and when the sentence itself, however concise, necessarily involves the point in discussion before another tribunal, it might be sufficient to produce the sentence as evidence of the condemnation relied on ”

“ Again; all inquiry into the fact of the violation of our laws, and its civil as well as penal consequences, belongs exclusively to the tribunals of this country. The Courts of other nations have no right to pronounce a binding judgment as to the validity or invalidity of any act against our civil, political, or criminallows: the right to vindicate our own laws is essential and inherent: it is a sovereign right, which we have not parted with to the tribunals of other nations. ”

“ It is not for him to claim a right springing out of his own wrong. In the hands of a third person, a valid sentence of condemnation, properly authenticated, would present a very different view of the subject. The offender's touch here restores the taint from which rhw condemnation may have purified the prize. Although a purchaser without notice, may, in many cases, hold his purchase free from an interest with which it was chargeable in the hands of the vendor, yet it cannot return into the hands of that vendor, without reviving the original heir. ”

“ If this condemnation be a conclusive bar against all inquiry as to the violation of our laws, the competency of the power granting the commission, the competency of the person receiving the commission, &c. it is manifest that Venezuela, Buenos Ayres, or any of these new formed sovereignties, may compel us, through the instrumentality of a condemnation, to accord to them the rights of sovereignty to every extent. ”

“ The crew finally signed the articles, and proceeded to cruize off Lisbon, where, on the 9th of September, 1818, they captured the Spanish ship Arrogante Barcelones and cargo, and proceeded with them to the port of Juan Griego, in the Island of Margaritta, where proceedings were instituted, under which the ship and cargo were condemned in the Court of Admiralty as Spanish property and good prize of war, and purchased by the claimant at public auction. ”

“ The truth unquestionably is, that the crew, with perhaps the exception of the few who were put in irons, understood perfectly the nature of the enterprize they were embarking in, and were deceived into the belief that their affected ignorance, or the impudence of the fraud, would screen them from the penalties of the laws which forbade their entering into belligerent service. ”