I9I2.] OF THE UNITED STATES. 323 



for that purpose, freely enter our ports with their ships and cargoes, and 

 reside or do business here. Thus the treaty of commerce with Italy of 

 February 26, 1871, provides that 'Italian citizens in the United States, and 

 citizens of the United States in Italy, shall mutually have liberty to enter, 

 with their ships and cargoes, all the ports of the United States and of Italy 

 respectively, which may be open to foreign commerce. They shall also have 

 liberty to sojourn and reside in all parts whatever of said territories.' Article 

 I, 17 Stat. 845. Those stipulations operate by their own force; that is, they 

 require no legislative action for their enforcement. Treaty of Commerce 

 with Great Britain in 1815, Article I, 8 Stat. 228; renewed and continued for 

 ten years by Article 4 of the treaty of 1818, 8 Stat. 249; and continued inde- 

 finitely by Article i of the treaty of 1827, 8 Stat. 361 ; treaty with Bolivia of 

 May 13, 1838, Article 3, 12 Stat. 1009; treaty with Costa Rica of July 10, 185 1, 

 Article 2, 10 Stat. 917; treaty with Greece of December, 1837, Article i, 8 

 Stat. 498; treaty with Sweden and Norway of July 5, 1827, Article i, 8 

 Stat. 346. 



" The right or privilege being conferred by the treaty, parties seeking to 

 enjoy it take whatever steps are necessary to carry the provisions into effect. 

 Those who wish to engage in commerce enter our ports with their ships and 

 cargoes ; those who wish to reside here select their places of residence, no 

 congressional legislation being required to provide that they shall enjoy the 

 right and privileges stipulated.'"^ 



During the period covering the cases which we have analyzed 

 many justices sat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the 

 United States ; yet not one dissented when it was repeatedly held 

 that a treaty may by its terms be made self-executing and is then to 

 have the force of an act of Congress ; that this principle was true 

 even when the subject dealt with was one committed by the Constitu- 

 tion to the legislation of Congress; that where provisions of treaties 

 and statutes conflict and there fails the effort to reconcile them 

 (always the duty of a Court when possible), the latest in point of 

 date must prevail. These principles have become part of constitu- 

 tional law. Such is the conclusion written for us by the long line of 

 cases, the analysis of which we have just concluded. And yet it is 

 said by one essayist today that the question is open for the Supreme 

 Court " to hold that no treaty dealing with matters entrusted to 

 Congress is self-executing " ;^^^ and for another essayist to maintain 

 " that so far as the domestic and intra-territorial effect of the exercise 



"""Ibid., pp. 703-4- 



™ C. P. Anderson. American Journal of International Law, Vol. I., Part 

 II., p. 654. 



