The Government Class Book Part 22

--6. _Manslaughter_ is killing a person either upon a sudden quarrel, or unintentionally while committing some unlawful act. The statutes of New York define four different degrees of manslaughter.

--7. _Arson_ is maliciously burning any dwelling-house, shop, barn, or any other building, the property of another. Arson in the first degree, which is burning an inhabited dwelling _in the night time_, is in some states punishable with death.

--8. _Homicide_ signifies mankilling. It is of three kinds: felonious, justifiable, and excusable. When felonious, it is either murder or manslaughter. _Justifiable_ homicide is that which is committed in the necessary defense of one's person, house, or goods, or of the person of another when in danger of injury; or that which is committed in lawfully attempting to take a person for felony committed, or to suppress a riot, or to keep the peace. _Excusable_ homicide is the killing of a person by accident, or while lawfully employed, without any design to do wrong. In the two last cases there is no punishment.

--9. Intentionally _maiming_ another by cutting out or disabling the tongue or any other member or limb; inveigling or _kidnapping_; _decoying_ and taking away children; _exposing children_ in the street to abandon them; committing or attempting an a.s.sault with _intent to kill_, or to commit any other felony, or in resisting the execution of a legal process; _administering poison_ without producing death; _poisoning any well_ or spring of water; are all felonies, and punishable as such.

--10. _Burglary_ is maliciously and forcibly breaking into and entering in the night time, any dwelling-house or other building, with intent to commit a crime. Breaking into and entering a house by day, is considered a minor degree of burglary.

--11. _Forgery_ consists in falsely making, counterfeiting, or altering any instrument of writing, with intent to defraud. The word _counterfeiting_ is generally applied to making false coin or bank notes, or in pa.s.sing them; or in having in possession any engraved plate, or bills unsigned, which are intended to be used for these purposes.

--12. _Robbery_ is the taking of personal property from another in his presence and against his will, by violence, or by putting him in fear of immediate injury to his person. Knowingly to send or deliver, or to make for the purpose of being sent, a letter or writing, threatening to accuse any one of crime, or to do him some injury, with intent to extort or gain from him any money or property, is considered an _attempt to rob_, for which the offender may be imprisoned.

--13. _Embezzlement_ is fraudulently putting to one's own use what is intrusted to him by another. To buy or receive property knowing it to have been embezzled, is to be guilty of the same offense. Embezzling is usually punishable in the same manner as larceny of the same amount.

--14. _Larceny_ is theft or stealing. The stealing of property above a certain amount in value is called _grand larceny_, and is a state prison offense. If the value of the property stolen is of less amount, the offense is called _pet.i.t larceny_, and is punished by fine or imprisonment in jail or both.

--15. _Perjury_ is willfully swearing or affirming falsely to any material matter, upon an oath legally administered. _Subornation of perjury_ is procuring another to swear falsely; punishable as perjury.

--16. _Bribery_ is promising or giving a reward to a public officer, to influence his opinion, vote or judgment. A person _accepting_ such bribe, is punishable in the same manner, and forfeits his office, and, in some states, may never hold another public trust. This offense is not in all the states punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.

--17. _Dueling_ is a combat between two persons with deadly weapons.

Killing another in a duel is murder, and punishable with death. If death does not ensue, imprisonment. Challenging, or accepting a challenge to fight, or to be present as a second, imprisonment. Dueling is not a punishable offense in every state.

--18. Aiding or attempting to aid a prisoner committed for felony, to _escape from confinement_, or forcibly rescuing a prisoner charged with crime, from the custody of a public officer, is a crime. If the offense for which the prisoner is committed is less than felony, the punishment is imprisonment in jail, or fine, or both.

--19. _Bigamy_ is the crime of having two or more wives, and is also called _polygamy_. But bigamy literally signifies having _two_ wives, and polygamy any number more than one. These words, in law, are applied also to women having two or more husbands. A person having a lawful husband or wife living, and marrying another person, is guilty of bigamy. An unmarried person, also, who shall marry the husband or wife of another, is punishable in like manner.

--20. _Incest_ is the marrying or cohabiting together as husband and wife, of persons related to each other within certain degrees.

--21. _Opening a grave_ and removing a dead body for any unlawful purpose, or purchasing such body knowing it to have been unlawfully disinterred, is a crime. This offense is in some states punishable by imprisonment in a county jail, or by fine, and not in a state prison.

--22. Persons sometimes advise or are knowing to the commission of felonies, but are not actually engaged in committing them. Such are _accessories_. He who advises or commands another to commit a felony, is called an _accessory before the fact_, and is punished in the same manner as the princ.i.p.al. If he conceals the offender after the offense has been committed, or gives him any aid to prevent his being brought to punishment, he is an _accessory after the fact_, and may be imprisoned or fined.

--23. _a.s.sault and Battery_ is unlawfully to a.s.sault or threaten, or to strike or wound another. Besides being liable to fine and imprisonment, the offender is liable also to the party injured for damages.

--24. A _riot_ is the a.s.sembling together of three or more persons, with intent forcibly to injure the person or property of another, or to break the peace; or agreeing with each other to do such unlawful act, and making any movement or preparation therefor, though lawfully a.s.sembled.

When riotous persons are thus a.s.sembled, and are proceeding to commit offenses, any judge, justice, sheriff, or other ministerial officer, may in the name of the state, command them to disperse. If they refuse, the peace officers are required to call upon all persons near to aid in taking the rioters into custody. Persons refusing to a.s.sist may be fined.

--25. A sheriff or other officer voluntarily suffering a prisoner charged with or convicted of an offense, to _escape_, from his custody, is guilty of a misdemeanor. To _rescue_ a prisoner thus charged or convicted, is punishable in a similar manner. It is also a misdemeanor to a.s.sist a criminal, with a view to effect his escape, though he does not escape from jail.

--26. A person taking upon himself to act as a public officer, and taking or keeping a person in custody unlawfully or without authority, is _false imprisonment_; for which the offender may be fined or imprisoned.

--27. The offenses mentioned in the last four sections, being of a lower grade than those defined in the preceding sections, and not being punishable in a state prison, are usually called _misdemeanors_, and are punishable by fine or imprisonment in a county jail. There are numerous other misdemeanors and immoralities, as profane cursing and swearing, betting and gaming, horse racing, disturbing religious meetings, sabbath-breaking, trespa.s.ses and injury to property, and many disorderly practices, all of which are punishable in a like manner.

Law of Nations.

Chapter LXIII.

Origin and Progress of the Law of Nations; the Natural, Customary, and Conventional Laws of Nations.

--1. The _law of nations_ consists of those rules by which intercourse between nations is regulated. In its present improved state, the law of nations has not long existed. Ancient nations were little governed by the principles of natural justice. Little respect was paid by one nation to the persons and property of the citizens of another. Robbery on land and sea was not only tolerated, but esteemed honorable; and prisoners of war were either put to death, or reduced to slavery. By this rule of national law, commerce was destroyed, and perpetual enmity kept up between nations.

--2. Within the last three or four centuries, essential improvement in the law of nations has been made. By the light of science and Christianity, the rights and obligations of nations have come to be better understood, and more generally regarded. Commerce also has done much to improve the law, by showing that the true interests of a nation are promoted by peace and friendly intercourse.

--3. Hence we find the nations of Europe and America recognizing the same rules of international law. And as the light and power of Christianity shall increase, the law of nations will undergo still further improvements. And it is to be hoped, that, as one of these improvements, the practice of settling national disputes by war will be abolished, and the more rational and humane course be adopted, of referring difficulties which the parties are incapable of adjusting, to some disinterested power for adjudication.

--4. There are, in every nation or state, courts of justice to try and punish offenders; but there is no tribunal before which one nation can be brought to answer for the violation of the rights of another. Every nation, however small and weak, is independent of every other.

Therefore, when injuries are committed by one upon another, the offended party, unless it chooses quietly to endure the wrong must seek redress, either by appealing to the sense of justice of the party offending, or by a resort to force.

--5. Every nation has a right to establish such government as it thinks proper; and no other nation has a right to interfere with its internal policy. To this rule, however, some writers make an exception. They hold that the natural right of a state to provide for its own safety, gives it the right to interfere where its security is seriously endangered by the internal transactions of another state. But it is admitted that such cases are so very rare, that it would be dangerous to reduce them to a rule.

--6. So cases seldom arise in which one nation has a right to a.s.sist the subjects of another in overturning or changing their government. It is generally agreed, that such a.s.sistance may be afforded consistently with the law of nations, in extreme cases; as when the tyranny of a government becomes so oppressive, as to compel the people to rise in their defense, and call for a.s.sistance. When the subjects of any government have carried their revolt so far as to have established a new state, and to give reasonable evidence of their ability to maintain a government, the right of a.s.sistance is unquestionable. But it is not clear that, prior to this state of progress in a revolution, the right to interpose would be justifiable.

--7. There is a sense, however, in which nations are not wholly independent. Mankind in the social state, as we have seen, are dependent upon each other for a.s.sistance. (Chap. I, --2.) Such is, in a measure, the mutual dependence of nations. Although the people of every nation have within themselves the means of maintaining their individual and national existence, their prosperity and happiness are greatly promoted by commerce with other nations. And as laws are necessary to govern the conduct of the individual citizens of a state, so certain rules are necessary to regulate the intercourse of nations.

--8. It has been observed, also, that the law of nature is a perfect rule for all moral and social beings, and ought to be universally obeyed.

Equally binding is this law upon nations. It requires each nation to respect the rights of all others, and to do for them what their necessities demand, and what it is capable of doing, consistently with the duties it owes to itself. And the general good of mankind is as really promoted by the application of this law to the affairs of nations, as by its application to the affairs of individuals.

--9. The law of nature applied to nations or states as moral persons, is called the _natural law of nations_. It is also called the _necessary law of nations_, because nations are morally bound to observe it; and sometimes the _internal law of nations_, from its being binding on the conscience.

--10. Although the law of nature, as expressed in the law of revelation, is a correct rule of human conduct; yet, as much of this law consists of general principles from which particular duties can not always be deduced, positive human enactments are necessary to define the law of nature and revelation. So an important part of the law of nations necessarily consists of positive inst.i.tutions. Hence some writers have divided international law under these two princ.i.p.al heads: the _natural_ law of nations, and the _positive_.

--11. The _positive law of nations_ is founded on usage or custom and agreement, and may be considered as properly divided into the _customary_ law of nations, and the _conventional_. The _customary law of nations_ consists of certain maxims, or is founded on customs and usages which have been long observed and tacitly consented to by nations, and have thereby become binding upon all who have adopted them, so far as their observance does not require a violation of the law of nature.

--12. A _conventional law of nations_ is one that has been established by a treaty or league. The word _convention_ usually signifies an a.s.sembly of persons met for some benevolent, political, or ecclesiastical purpose. It also signifies a treaty, or agreement between nations; and such agreement or contract, though made without a formal meeting, is deemed conventional.

--13. As the law of nature is liable to misconstruction, and as the law of usage or custom is vague and uncertain, _conventional_ law, because more definite, has been found to afford greater security to the rights of commerce. Hence the practice, now so common among nations, of regulating their intercourse by negotiation. By treaties, the rights of the contracting parties are placed beyond dispute.

--14. But it may be said, if each nation is independent of every other, and if there is no const.i.tuted authority to enforce the fulfillment of treaty stipulations, the rights guarantied by treaties are still insecure. But few governments are so devoid of a sense of honor as, by a palpable violation of treaty obligations, to incur the odium and condemnation of all mankind. Self-respect and the fear of provoking a war, have generally proved sufficient incentives to the observance of treaties.

--15. The obligations of nations are sometimes called _imperfect_. A _perfect obligation_ is one that can be enforced--one that exists where there is a right to compel the party on whom the obligation rests to fulfill it. An _imperfect obligation_ gives only the right to demand the fulfillment, leaving the party pledged to judge what his duty requires, and to do as he chooses, without being constrained by another to do otherwise.

Chapter LXIV.

The Jurisdiction of Nations; their mutual Rights and Obligations; the Rights of Emba.s.sadors, Ministers, &c.