254 WRIGHT— POWER TO MEET RESPONSIBILITIES. 



same was true of the act of Congress exempting American vessels 

 from tolls in the use of the Panama Canal. Great Britain consid- 

 ered the act in disregard of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty but it re- 

 mained effective until repealed by Congress itself, at the solicita- 

 tion of President Wilson whose judgment " very fully considered 

 and maturely formed " found it " in plain contravention of the 

 treaty." ^ 



Congress has sometimes made express exception from the oper- 

 ation of statutes out of deference to international law. Thus, the 

 various acts describing rules of navigation " shall not be construed 

 as applying to ships of war or tO' government ships." '^ The se- 

 lective draft act of 1917 as amended August 31, 1918, exempted for- 

 eign consular and diplomatic officers from registration and resident 

 aliens except declarants of co-belligerent nationality from service.^ 

 The Supreme Court is given only such jurisdiction of cases against 

 foreign diplomatic officers " as a court of law can have consistently 

 with the law of nations."^ An act of 1790 expressly exempts resi- 

 dent " public ministers," their " domestics and domestic servants " 

 and their " goods and chattels " from all legal process,^" and an act 

 of 1888 excepts " the ownership of legations, or the ownership of 

 residences by representatives of foreign governments or attaches, 

 thereof " from the general law prohibiting alien landholding in the 

 District of Columbia.^^ Frequently Congress has shown respect for 

 treaties by excepting persons entitled to treaty privileges from the 

 operation of statutes or by making the operation of the statute de- 

 pendent upon denunciation of the treaty according to its own terms. 

 Thus certain provisions of the La Follette seaman's act were to re- 

 main in abeyance until conflicting treaties should be properly ter- 



8 Message, March 5, 1914, Cong. Rec, 51: 4313. 



^ Act Aug. I, 1912, sec. 5, 2>7 Stat. 242, Comp. Stat'., sec. 7994. 



8 Acts July 9, 1918, and Aug. 31, 1918, amending act May 18, 1917, sees. 

 4, 5, Comp. Stat., sec. 2044b, e. 



»Rev. Stat., 687, Judicial Code of 191 1, sec. 233, 36 Stat., 1156, Comp. 

 Stat., sec. 1210. 



1° Rev. Stat., 4063, Comp. Stat., 761 1. 



" Act March 9, 1888, 25 Stat. 45, Comp. Stat., sec. 3501. 



