The power of the United States to define and punish piracies and other crimes committed upon the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations, may be supported upon three constitutional grants, - one express and two implied. In Article 1, Section VIII, Clause 10, it is expressly given. It may also be implied from the federal admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and from the general control granted to the Federal Government in all that concerns foreign affairs. The implied power under the maritime jurisdiction is broader, territorially, than that given in Article I, Section VIII, Clause 10, inasmuch as admiralty jurisdiction has been construed to extend not only over the high seas, but over the public navigable waters.

41 The law thus held void was enacted July 8, 1870. The law dated March 3, 1881, was expressly limited in its operation to interstate and foreign commerce, and with Indian Tribes, and was held valid in Ryder v. Holt, 128 U. S. 525; 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 145; 32 L. ed. 529. The present law was enacted Feb. 20, 1905 and has been since amended. The last amendatory act bears date March 4. 1909.

42 140 U. S. 428; 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 731; 35 L. ed. 470.

43 2 Blatchf. 165.

The authority given to Congress to define and punish all offenses against the law of nations would seem to be broad enough to authorize the prohibition and punishment of acts which, though committed within the territorial limits of the United States, may give rise to international responsibilities upon the part of the United States. It would also seem that this authority may be implied from the general fact that to the Federal Government is given the exclusive control of foreign relations, and to it alone do foreign States look for the redress of any injuries which they may conceive themselves to have suffered. Where, therefore, the responsibility is imposed, the right to prevent its accruing may properly be implied.

A most intersting case upon this point is that of United States v. Arjona44 in which was questioned the constitutionality of the law of Congress defining as a crime the counterfeiting within the United States of the notes, bonds, and other securities of foreign governments. The authority for this act could not be found in Article I, Section VIII, Clause 6, for that relates only to the securities and current coin of the United States. Therefore, in sustaining its validity the court was obliged to have recourse to the authority to punish offenses against the law of nations and to the general control which the Federal Government has over all matters that pertain to or may involve international rights and responsibilities.45

By the clause under discussion Congress is given the power not simply to provide for the punishment of piracy as defined by the law of nations, but itself to define what shall constitute the offense and to punish it as such. Thus, for example, the slave trade, though not declared by international law to be piracy, has by Congress been declared so to be.46