Rivers and the American lakes are not like the ocean, the highway of nations. By act of congress, bounding the state of Michigan, the state comprises a portion of lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron, Superior and Michigan-extending to the Canada line on the four first named lakes. By acts of congress, lake Michigan forms a portion of the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana ; and the United States portion of lake Erie forms a part of the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. The ports, harbors, rivers, small bays nearly enclosed by land, and the sea coast to the distance of cannon-shot, or one marine league from the land, and the fisheries therein, properly belong to, and form a part of the several states in which they are situated; but the Atlantic states have no just claim to, nor jurisdiction over, the ocean, beyond reach of cannon-shot from the land. These distinctions Judge Savage lost sight of. The true doctrine is laid down by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Allen vs. Newberry, and that of Maguire vs. Card, reported in 21st Howard's Rep., 244 to 251. The court there held that the United States courts have no jurisdiction of a maratime contract of affraightment upon lake Michigan, from one port to another in the same state.

Hence we see that the laws of the several states have no extra territorial, or exterior power, and are limited by the constitution, government, and laws of the United States in their interior power. Contracts made in one state by a citizen thereof, to be executed in another state, must be regulated by the laws of the latter state, in the absence of any law of congress for the regulation thereof. Companies incorporated by a state for banking, insurance, or other purposes, have no power to make contracts beyond the limits of such state, except by virtue of the laws or courtesy of the state or country in which the same may be made. On the contrary, congress has power to regulate by law, bills of exchange, promissory notes, and other commercial contracts, made in one state, to be paid or executed in another, or made in a foreign country, to be executed in the United States; and may prescribe the time and mode of presenting and protesting such bills and notes, and the time and mode of giving notice to the endorsers, in order to charge them with the payment thereof;

but congress has no power to regulate by law, bills of exchange or promissory notes drawn and payable in the same state. The latter class of bills and notes must be regulated exclusively by the laws. of the state. And as a general rule, property and persons, the domestic relations and contracts, are all governed by the municipal laws of the respective states, as interior and local, not national

concerns.

SEC. 9. MUNICIPAL LAWS, AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN STATE

AND UNITED STATES LAWS.

The word municipal is of Roman origin, and originally designated that which pertained to a free city, town or corporation. Its signification was afterwards extended, and as now used it includes all the internal affairs, laws, and institutions of a state, kingdom, or nation. Its proper use has always been restricted to matters more or less local, internal, and domestic; and in that sense I use it. Municipal laws include all the laws, and those only, which apply exclusively to the internal affairs and institutions. of a state. Each state has laws and domestic institutions differing more or less from those of every other state. The laws of the several states and the administration of justice therein by state judges and magistrates, are as totally distinct from, and indepen-. lent of each other, as those of England and France are-the powers and jurisdiction of each being local, and confined within the limits of the state. Hence they are, properly speaking, inter nal, local, domestic, and municipal laws.

But to understand, fully and clearly, what are municipal laws, it is necessary to understand what are not laws of that character. Each state may prescribe the laws pertaining to domestic bills of exchange, notes, drafts, and checks, drawn in and payable within the state, and the laws so prescribed are municipal; but foreign hills of exchange and promissory notes, drawn in one state and payable in another, or in a foreign country, or drawn in a foreign country and payable in a state, are governed by the law merchant, as a general rule, and not by the municipal or local laws.

The navigation laws of a state or country, so far as they pertain to the rivers, harbors, lakes, and bays, within its territorial limits, are, strictly speaking, municipal laws; but so far as they pertain to

navigation upon the high seas, they must conform to the laws of nations, which are blended with and form a portion of the maratime code of every nation.

The navigation of Oneida, Seneca, and Cayuga lakes, and the ferries across the Hudson river above the New Jersey line, and also the ferries across the sound from New York to Long Island, are all governed by the laws of the state of New York, as completely and exclusively as the canals of the state are. These laws are properly called municipal laws, because they pertain exclusively to the internal affairs of the state. But navigation between New York and foreign countries is governed by the maratime code of nations, and the acts of congress blended together. So the coasting trade, from state to state, on the ocean, and the inter-state trade and navigation on lakes and rivers, are governed exclusively by the laws of congress, by virtue of that clause of the constitution authorizing congress to regulate commerce among the several states. The coasting trade, and inter-state commerce and navigation not being confined within the limits of a state, could not be governed by laws of a strictly municipal character.

Power having been granted to congress, to regulate foreign commerce, and commerce among the states, and with the Indian tribes, those grants of power include power to regulate all such commercial contracts, including foreign bills of exchange, and notes drawn in the prosecution of such commerce, notes drawn in one state payable in another, and all contracts for affreightment, and maratime contracts made in carrying on such commerce. Congress can also regulate by law, all contracts which may be made in carrying on the federal government. It does not occur to me that there is any other class of contracts which congress has. power to regulate. All other contracts made within a state are of a strictly municipal or domestic character, and therefore governed as to their validity, verification and construction, by the state laws. Congress has neither common nor statute laws upon the subject of such contracts, and no power to pass any.

So all conveyances of lands and real property within a state, and all contracts relating thereto, are governed by the lex loci rei sitae; that is, by the law of the state where the same are situated. Laws to regulate marriages, the marriage relation, and all the do

mestic relations; laws for the protection of persons, personal liberty, property and character, including those to punish slander and libel, both civilly and criminally; laws relating to slaves and slavery; laws to check and punish crimes, offences and vices, with the exception of offences against federal statutes; police regulations; laws regulating schools and education, religious and philanthropic societies, cities, counties, and towns, roads and bridges, rail roads and canals, banking, insurance, rail road, and canal companies, and all other private corporations, are all, (strictly speaking), municipal or domestic laws, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the state govCongress has no laws upon such subjects, either statute or common, and no power to pass any. In administering justice, in civil cases, in the several states, the federal courts administer the local and state laws respectively, the same as the state courts do the national government having no municipal common law, and no statute laws to supply its place, except a declaratory statute, that "the laws of the several states shall be regarded as rules of decision in trials at common law in the courts of the United States, in cases where they apply."

ernments.

In admiralty and maratime cases, the federal courts administer the laws of nations, and the navigation and criminal laws of the United States; in equity cases, they are governed by the general principles of equity jurisprudence, and universal laws as modified and extended in some instances by the lex loci rei sitae; in all other civil cases the federal courts are governed either by the law of the forum, or by the lex loci contractus.

Congress has no power to punish murder, arson, robbery, rape, larceny, burglary, assault and battery, forgery, or any other natural crime within a state, except forgery and perjury against the laws of the United States.

The federal courts have no jurisdiction over common law offences in the states, and congress has no power to confer on them any such jurisdiction. Nor has congress any power to restrain or punish vice of any kind within a state. kind within a state. All such crimes and offences, and all matters of police are of a municipal character, subject to state legislation only, and not within the powers of the federal government. Within the limits of the states, the national government can take cognizance of only artificial crimes and of

fences against its own proper authority and laws. The state governments are the sole conservators of the morals of the people, and of the public peace and good order of society-the federal gov ernment having no power to legislate upon such subjects, and no power to punish crimes against individuals, or against individual property. The federal courts take cognizance of only statutory crimes and offences prescribed by congress; and congress has no power to make statutory crimes and offences, except so far as it may be necessary to do so, as a means of executing its laws, and attaining the ends and national purposes for which it was established.

Congress has power to protect the officers of the federal government from violence or molestation, while in the discharge of their official duties, and to punish such offences. This is a matter of necessity, to ensure the execution of the laws; but congress has no power to punish either verbal slander or libels of federal oflicers, for the purpose of protecting their character, unless the same be published in the District of Columbia. Federal officers must look to state laws, and to state laws only, to protect them from slanders and libels. Congress cannot confer on the federal courts, for the convenience and protection of federal officers, any such powers and jurisdiction as have been exercised for centuries, under mere fictions of law, by the courts of Exchequer and King's Bench of England. Federal officers must rely on the state courts for the protection of their private rights.

SEC. 10. NATIONAL COMMON LAW OF THE UNITED STATES.

The United States have no municipal common law; no common law upon municipal questions and subjects; but they have a national common law, which applies only to national questions and subjects. The law merchant of England, at the time of the American revolution, which regulated foreign bills of exchange and notes, and the liabilities of the drawers, makers, and endorsers thereof, constitute a part of the national common law of the United States, subject to such alterations as congress may see fit to make.

So much of the old maratime laws of England, as are generally recognized by the laws and usages of civilized nations, constitute a