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notwithstanding." Next in dignity and authority are the written constitutions of the several states and the acts of the legislatures of the states respectively; to these may be added the ordinances of cities and towns. These constitutions, treaties, acts of congress and acts of the legislature, and ordinances, constitute the written laws which govern the people of the United States. These written laws emanate from the sovereign will of the people and are self-imposed.

§ 12. The unwritten law in the United States may be defined in the words of Justinian as being "that which usage has established; for ancient customs, being sanctioned by those who adopt them, are like laws." It is customary law, and is as obligatory as any other law. In a pending controversy the courts announce the rule of civil conduct, i. e., the law which fixes the rights and liabilities of the parties before it, whether that rule is found in the written. or the unwritten law. This unwritten or common law is different in different states. The United States as

a nation has no common or unwritten law. The national or federal courts administer the common law as they find it to exist in the states respectively. The common law of Louisiana, for instance, is based upon the principles of the civil law which came to Louisiana from France. The common law of most of the other states finds its source in the common law as it was established and administered in England and her colonies at the time of the separation.

CHAPTER II.

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND CITIZENSHIP.

§ 13. International law.-This is composed of the rules which fix the rights and duties of civilized nations in their intercourse with one another. Professor Maine defines it as the law of negotiation and diplomacy. The horrors of war on land and sea made international law a necessity. There are, however, no fixed sanctions or penalties to punish violations or to enforce obedience to this law; there is no tribunal to hear and determine questions touching breaches of the law. If two nations have a controversy, it can be settled in one of three ways. First, by negotiation. between the parties concerned. Second, by arbitration agreed upon by the parties. Third, by war. The Amphyctionic Council was established for a law of nations for the Greek states, but it failed. Aristotle pleaded for the humane treatment of prisoners of war. As late as the Middle Ages the usages of war were barbarous. The church exercised her influence to soften its rigors. Her efforts were supplemented by the laws of chivalry, and later, nations by treaties bound themselves to certain rules for the conduct of war, and these rules by constant usage have come to be settled law among all civilized peoples. The scope of international law includes also the customs and usages which fix the rights of neu

trals, the navigation of the high seas, the extent of the jurisdiction of nations over the seas at their coast lines, the punishment of piracy, treatment of ambassadors and consuls, passports, in fact of all matters growing out of and related to the intercourse of the subjects of nations with each other.

§ 14. What is called the conventional law of nations is composed of those stipulations and rules which have been incorporated in treaties, a law which is only binding upon the parties to the treaty. To promote harmony and to facilitate the settlement of controversies between nations, and the subjects of different nations, it is customary for nations to have accredited representatives at the seat of government of other nations. These representatives, whether called ministers or ambassadors, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of the country to which they are sent, and the same rule extends to the members of their families and households.

§ 15. Neutrality.-When two nations are at war, other nations should observe the duties of neutrality towards the belligerents. To enforce these duties most nations enact neutrality laws for the purpose of punishing such of their subjects as violate their duties. A neutral must abstain from giving aid to the belligerents.

§ 16. When war exists.-Each belligerent has the right to seize and possess itself of all property within its borders belonging to the enemy or the enemy's subjects. Exceptions are made in favor of debts. owing to foreign creditors and to ships in port which have not had sufficient time to leave after hostilities began. Where and to what extent the

property of an enemy may be seized and confiscated is in this country a political question which must be determined by congress.

§ 17. Interstate law.-Akin to international law is what may be called interstate law in this country. In a large measure the rights of citizens of one state to travel in, to carry on business, to make contracts, and to acquire and enjoy property in the other states are secured by the constitution of the United States; but in many things their rights are restricted by state laws. Corporations organized under the laws of one state doing business in another, must submit to and perform such conditions as may be imposed upon them by the latter state. So, contracts made in one state will be enforced in another state only according to the methods of procedure of the latter state. As when the laws of the state in which a suit is brought to collect a debt contracted in another has a statute of limitations which bars a recovery sooner than it would be barred in the state where the contract was made, the shorter limit will be applied.

§ 18. While the federal courts take judicial notice of the laws of the United States, and of all the laws of all the states, the state courts only take judicial notice of the laws of the United States and of their own states. Ordinarily, the laws of one state are limited in their operations to the geographical boundaries of the state. When, however, a contract is made in one state, the law of that state must be resorted to in measuring the rights of the parties to it. The law of the place where the contract is made determines their rights, and the law of the place

where redress is sought in the courts determines the manner of the remedy.

§ 19. Where a man having a domicil in one state dies intestate, leaving property in two or more states, it is a rule of law that the personal property shall be distributed amongst his heirs according to the law of the place of his domicil, and that the real estate shall descend to his heirs according to the laws of the place where it lies.

§ 20. Citizenship.-Citizenship is the state of being vested with the rights and privileges of a citizen. In this country there are two kinds of citizenship and allegiance one national and the other state. It is for congress to determine who shall enjoy the privileges of national citizenship within the limits prescribed by the constitution, and the laws of the several states fix the conditions under which state citizenship is acquired. No state can make or enforce a law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States; nor can any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws. This is a provision of the constitution of the United Statesand any state law to the contrary is void. It is further provided in the constitution that the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. The right of a citizen to expatriate himself and become a subject of another nation was questioned in this country until congress passed a law recognizing such right.

§ 21. Citizenship is acquired by birth or by natural

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