William Howard Taft

“ The 'exclusio' is often the result of inadvertence or accident, and the maxim ought not to be applied, when its application, having regard to the subject-matter to which it is to be applied, leads to inconsistency or injustice.'
What reason could Great Britain have for a stipulation clothing with immunity either contraband liquor which should be condemned or the guilty persons aboard, when the very object of the treaty was to help the United States in its effort to protect itself against such liquor and such persons from invasion by the sea? ”

“ The Tariff Act and the conspiracy section each imposes a maximum penalty of two years, while that of the Prohibition Act is only six months, with a lower maximum of fine.
The differences are clearly not sufficient to affect the construction. The substantive offense of importing liquor is in law a different one from the preparatory offense of conspiring to import liquor; but where, as here, the overt acts of the conspiracy include an actual importation of liquor and an attempt, it would seem to be quite absured to hold that the conspiracy set forth does not come within the scope of the treaty. ”

“ Nor have we been advised that Great Britain has ever suggested that under this treaty a crew of a vessel lawfully seized could not be brought into port or tried according to our laws. Diligent as the representatives of that nation have always been in guarding the rights of their people, such a construction of the treaty has not been advanced. ”

“ Any law, the enforcement of and punishment for which will specifically prevent smuggling of liquor, should be regarded as embraced by the treaty. The British government has advanced no contrary view. In the letter from the British Embassy of June 30, 1925, already referred to, the fact that the master and crew of the British schooner Francis E., of Nassau, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the National Prohibition Laws, was not made the basis of complaint or protest but only of a request that the trial be expedited. ”

“ It will be found among the earlier cases that the principle is sometimes qualified by saying that the person out of the state cannot be held for a crime committed within the state by his procuration, unless it is done by an innocent agent or a mechanical one; but the weight of authority is now against such limitation. Generally the cases show that jurisdiction exists to try one who is a conspirator, whenever the conspiracy is in whole or in part carried on in the country whose laws are conspired against. ”

“ And the methods which modern invention has furnished for the performance of criminal acts in that manner has made this principle one of constantly growing importance and of increasing frequency of application. ”

“ If they committed an offense against the United States and its liquor importation laws, they cannot escape conviction, unless the treaty affirmatively confers on them immunity from prosecution. There certainly are no express words granting such immunity. ”

“ Article I.
'The high contracting parties declare that it is their firm intention to uphold the principle that 3 marine miles extending from the coast-line outwards and measured from low-water mark constitute the proper limits of territorial waters. ”