William Johnson

“ That the mere fact of seizure as prize does not, of itself, oust the neutral admiralty court of its jurisdiction, is evident from this fact, that there are acknowledged cases in which the courts of a neutral may interfere to devest possessions; to wit, those in which her own right to stand neutral is invaded: and there is no case in which the court of a neutral may not claim the right of determining whether the capturing vessel be, in fact, the commissioned cruiser of a belligerant power. ”

“ In this view the situation of a captured ship of a citizen is precisely the same as that of any other captured neutral; or, rather, the obligation to abstain from interference between the captor and captured becomes greater, inasmuch as it is purchased by a concession from the belligerant, of no little importance to the peace of the world, and particularly of the nation of the offending individual. ”

“ The decision of the supreme court in that case is in strict conformity with that of the circuit court in the present case. For when the court come to apply their principle, they do not enter into the question of prize between the belligerants, but decree the residue to the last possessor: thus making the fact of possession, as between the parties litigant, the criterion of right; and this is, unquestionably, consistent with the law of nations. Those points, which can be disposed of without any reference to the legal exercise of the rights of war, the court proceeds to decide ”