258 WRIGHT— POWER TO MEET RESPONSIBILITIES. 



used, but the validity of such legislation, except as applied tu the 

 militia, has been questioned. ^° 



104. Observance of International Lazv by Military and Civil Ser- 

 vices. 



Usually, however, the President is obliged to act through serv- 

 ices which are subject to control by acts of Congress and judicial 

 processes. Congress has provided for the organization of the 

 diplomatic, consular, naval, military and administrative services 

 but has not generally attempted to regulate their conduct in detail. 

 A few statutory regulations are designed to assure observance of 

 international law by public officers of which may be mentioned that 

 forbidding ministers to give information relating to the affairs of 

 the foreign state to which they are accredited except to the De- 

 partment of State/^ that forbidding administrative officers from 

 serving process on resident diplomatic officers and others entitled to 

 immunity under international law,^^ that forbidding the injury or 

 destruction of prizes or maltreatment of those on board by naval 

 forces,^^ and that requiring the restoration of recaptured prizes 

 originally the property of neutral individuals on the principle of 

 reciprocity.^* 



These services are regulated in detail by executive regulations 

 and instructions, which, though issued by and subject to alteration 

 by the President, in fact furnish a fairly permanent law for their 

 guidance. These regulations have usually enjoined a strict ob- 

 servance of international law and treaty. The " Diplomatic In- 

 structions," " Consular Regulations," " Rules of Naval Warfare " 

 and " Rules of Land Warfare," each a volume officially issued from 

 time to time, are largely codifications of international law and treaty 

 provisions. ^^ The permanent army regulations forbid armed forces 



2° Infra, sec. 125. 



31 Act Aug. 18, 1850, Rev. Stat., sec. 1751. 



32 Rev. Stat., sec. 4063, Comp. Stat., sec. 761 1. 



33 Articles for Government of the Navy, Rev. Stat., sec. 1624, Arts. 6, li, 

 12. See also Rev. Stat., sec. 4617, Comp. Stat., sec. 8397, and Wright, En- 

 forcement of International Law through Municipal Law, pp. 183 et seq. 



3* Rev. Stat., sec. 4652, Comp. Stat'., sec. 8426. 

 35 See Wright, op. cit., p. 68. 



