INTERNATIONAL LAW. 109 



of merchant vessels, in war, will appear from the abuse to which 

 this practice would otherwise be exposed. Hence privateers, com- 

 missioned by government to make such captures, are forbidden to 

 dispose of them, till they are legally condemned, by some court of 

 the captor's own country. Even those merchant vessels which are 

 captured by national ships, must, we believe, undergo this legal con- 

 demnation, at least before they can be safely purchased by any indi- 

 vidual citizen. Such prizes become the property of the state; 

 though their proceeds are usually distributed among the captors, as a 

 reward for bravery, and a stimulus to exertion. All seizures, under 

 the laws of impost, navigation or trade, when those seizures are 

 made on waters navigable from the sea, by vessels of a certain size, 

 may also be considered as under the cognisance of Maritime Law. 

 Piracy, including the seizure of vessels, or robbery and murder on 

 the high seas, is punishable with death by the law of nations ; and 

 pirates, on becoming such, cease to have any national rights ; but 

 are held amenable to any nation, into whose hands they may fall. 

 Several nations, including the United States and Great Britain, have 

 already agreed to rank the slave trade in the same heinous class of 

 crimes. Most others have forbidden it ; and it is to be hoped that 

 all will soon effectually unite in putting a stop to this horrid traffic. 



4. Commercial Law, otherwise called Law Merchant or Lex 

 Mercatoria, " is that which relates to trade, navigation, and maritime 

 contracts ; such as those of insurance, bottomry, bills of lading, 

 charter-parties, general average, seamen's wages ; and also to bills 

 of exchange, bills of credit, factors and agents." Cases of these 

 kinds between citizens of different nations, evidently rest on prin- 

 ciples of International Law, which no one nation can greatly alter ; 

 and in our own country, they are mostly tried before the Courts of 

 the General Government. The earliest laws of this kind were pro- 

 bably the Rliodian Laws, of which some fragments only remain. 

 The Jlmalfitan Table, prepared at Amalfi, in Italy, about 1096; the 

 Laws of Oleron, prepared at Oleron, in France, in 1266; and the 

 Consolato del Mare, probably digested at Barcelona, in Spain, in 

 1494 ; were the basis of Commercial Law ; which has since been 

 improved by the French Ordinances framed by Colbert ; by the 

 labors of Lord Mansfield, who first methodized the system in Eng- 

 land ; and in our own country, by the able decisions of Marshall, 

 Story, and other jurists. 



Marine Insurance, rests on a contract, by which the underwriters, 

 for a certain premium, guarantee a ship against loss ; or if lost, en- 

 gage to make good the damage. Bottomry, is the borrowing of 

 money, by pledging the ship's bottom, that is the ship itself, in pay- 

 ment. A bill of lading, is a written statement of goods shipped : 

 and it is usually directed to the person to whom they are sent. A 

 charter party, is a written agreement, concerning the shipment and 

 freight of a cargo. Primage and average, are certain contingent 

 charges, as for towage and pilotage ; and general average signifies 

 extraordinary expenses and sacrifices, made to save the cargo, when 

 in danger; as throwing articles overboard, paying ransom, and the 

 like. On all these points, certain general rules and principles are 



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