PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 49 



ber, 1814, the country being then at war with Great Britain, the 

 town of Castine, in Maine, was captured by the British forces, and 

 remained in their exclusive possession until after the ratification 

 of peace in 1815. During this period the British Government 

 exercised all civil and military authority over the place, estab- 

 lished a custom house and allowed merchandise to be imported, 

 some of which remained in Castine after it was evacuated by the 

 enemy. On the re-establishment of the authority of the United 

 States, the American collector of customs for the district, claim- 

 ing a right on the part of the United States to Federal duties on 

 the goods in question, demanded payment of the same from the 

 owners or importers ; and, the claim being resisted, the case went 

 up to the United States Supreme Court, which with complete 

 unanimity gave judgment, through Justice Story, for the owners 

 or importers in the following language : 



" We are all of the opinion that the claim for duties can not 

 be sustained. By the conquest and military occupation of Cas- 

 tine, the enemy acquired that firm possession which enabled him 

 to exercise the fullest rights of sovereignty over that place. The 

 sovereignty of the United States was suspended, and its laws 

 could no longer be enforced there, or be obligatory on the inhab- 

 itants who remained there and submitted to the conquerors. By 

 the surrender the inhabitants passed under a temporary allegiance 

 to the British Government, and were bound by such laws and such 

 only as it chose to impose. From the nature of the case, no other 

 laws could be obligatory on them ; for where there is no protection 

 or allegiance, or sovereignty, there can be no claim to obedience" 



Taxes, therefore, are necessarily the creation of each state, and 

 no self-respecting Government ever permits any other Govern- 

 ment to interfere with its tax laws or their execution, and a 

 toleration of such interference in any degree presupposes de- 

 pendence, subjection, or absence of independence. An obvious 

 co- relation of this proposition, and also a matter of fact, is that a 

 violation of the tax or revenue laws of one country has never 

 been regarded as an offense or crime in any other country ; and 

 the English courts have held that contracts to evade the customs 

 laws of a foreign country are not illegal. Hence, also, offenders 

 in this respect are never taken into account in extradition treaties 

 between different nations and their governments. Some years 

 ago a United States district attorney in New York procured 

 through the Department of State at Washington the extradition 

 of a person from England on the charge of forgery. On his 

 arraignment before a United States court it transpired that the 

 offense committed was the manufacture and use of fraudulent 

 invoices, to which forged or fictitious names had been attached, 

 for the purpose of evading the payment of United States customs 



VOL. LI. 4 



