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American Insurance Company, and the Ocean Insurance Company, (of New-York,) Appellants, vs. 356 Bales of Cotton, David Canter Claimant and Appellee, The U.S. 511 (1828)

handle is hein.slavery/ussccases0145 and id is 1 raw text is: JANUARY TERM, I8M8. THE AmmuA h IsuRA Ncn ComPAnY, AND THE OcEAN lNsURA cE COMPANY, (or NEW-YORK,) APPELLANTS, v3. 356 BAEms or Coro-.%, DAVID CAN XIER CLAIMANT AND APPELLEE. The Constitution of the United States confers, absolutely, on the governn nt of the U-non, the power of making war, and of making.treaties. Conse. quently, that government possesses the power of acquiring terrlitory, either by conquest or by treaty. 15421 The usage of the World is, if a nation be not entirely subdued, to consider the holding of conquered territory as a mere military occupation, until its fate shall be determinhed at the treaty of peace. Ifit be ceded by treaty, the acquisition is confirmed, and the ceded territory becomes a part of the nation to'which it is annexed; e:'her on the terms stipfilated in the treaty of cession, or on such as its niiw master shall impose. On such transfer of territory, it has never been held, that the relations of the inhabitants with each other undergo any change. Their relationswith their former sove- reign are dissolved, and new relations are created between them and the government which has acquired their territory. The same act *hich trans- fers their' country, transfers the allegiance of those who remain in it, and the law, which maybe denominated political, is, necessarily, changed; al-. though that which regulates the intercourse and general conduct of indi- viduals, remains in force, until altered by the newly created power of the state. {5421 The treaty with Spain, by which Florida was ceded to the United States, is the law of the'land, and admits the inhabitants of Florida to the enjoyment of the privileges, rights, and immunities ofthe citizens of the United States. They do not however participate in political power; they do not share in the government, until Florida shall become a state. In the mean time Flo- rida continues td be a territory of the United States, governed by virtue of that clausdin the Constitution, which empowers Congress to make all needful rfles and regulations, respecting the territory, or other property belonging to the United States. 1542. The powers of the territnfil legislature *Florida, extend to all rightful ob. jects of legislation; subject to the reitriction, that their laws shall not be inconsisteht with the laws and Conptitution of the United States. {5431 Alf the laws which were in force in'FloHda while a province of Spain, those excepted which -were political-in thlir character, which concerned the re- lations be;ween the peopleand their sovereign, remained in forte until al- tered by the-government of the United States. Congress recognises this principle, by using the w 6rds-laws of the territory now in force therein. No laws could, then, have been-in force but those enaoted by the Spanish government. Ifamong them thereexisted a lawon the subject of salvage, and it is scarcely possible there shouldnot have been such a law, jurisdic- tion over it, was conferred by the Act of Congress relatie to the territory of Florida, on the Superior Court- but that jurisdiction was not exclusive. A territorial Act, contrringjurisdiction'over the same cases as an inferior Court, would not have been ificonslsqent with the seventh section of the Act, vesting the whole judicial power of the territory in two Superior Courts, and in such inferior UCourts, and Justices of the Peage, as the legis- lative council ofthe terlitory may from time to time establish. -15441

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