[1] Piracy is robbery at sea, performed not by an individual but by a ship’s crew.  Pirates are outlaws, and may be put to death by any nation capturing them.

[2] A felony is any crime punishable by death or state prison.  Felony covers murder, arson, larceny, burglary, etc.  But congress may define piracy and felony to cover more or fewer crimes.

[3] The “high seas” are the waters of the ocean beyond low water mark.  Low water mark is the limit of jurisdiction of a state, but the jurisdiction of the United States extends three miles further into the ocean, and includes all bays and gulfs.

Beyond the three-mile limit, the ocean is “common ground,” belonging not to one nation but to all.  Each nation has jurisdiction, however, over its merchant ships on the high seas, but not in a foreign port, and over its war ships everywhere.

[4] For an outline of the Law of Nations, see page 346.

Cases arising under this clause have been placed in the jurisdiction of the United States District Courts.

Clause 11.—­Declaration of War.

To declare war,[1] grant letters of marque and reprisal[2] and make rules concerning captures on land and water.[3]

[1]:  A declaration of war is a solemn notice to the world that hostilities actually exist or are about to commence.

The power to declare war is one of the attributes of sovereignty.  If this power were in the hands of the several states, any one of them could at any time involve the whole country in the calamities of war, against the wishes of all the other states.  With all their fear of the general government, shown in the character of the articles of confederation, the people in framing that instrument saw the necessity of vesting this power in the general government.

In monarchies, the power to declare war is generally vested in the executive.  But in a republic, it would be dangerous to the interests and even the liberties of the people, to entrust this power to the president.

To put the thought in other words, the power to declare war belongs to the sovereign:  in this country, the people are sovereign, therefore the power to declare war belongs to the people, and they act through their representative body, congress. (See pages 351-4.)

[2] These are commissions granted to private persons usually in time of war, authorizing the bearer to pass beyond the boundaries of his own country for the purpose of seizing the property of an enemy.

Sometimes such a letter is granted in times of peace, “to redress a grievance to a private citizen, which the offending nation refuses to redress.”  By authority of such a commission, the injured individual may seize property to the value of his injury from the subjects of the nation so refusing.  But this practice is properly becoming rare.

[3] Vessels acting under letters of marque and reprisal are called privateers, and the captured vessels are called prizes.