Opinion on the Constitutional Power of the Military to Try and Execute the Assassins of the PresidentU.S. Government Printing Office, 1865 - 16 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
active enemies active participants adopted and practiced Armies are called articles of war ascertain assassinated authorize bandit banditti battle betwixt belligerents betwixt the laws breach Bureau of Military bushwhacker Cæsar civil courts civil wars civilized nations clause commander committed condemn Congress may define contemplated courts are open created crime declared define and punish define those laws demand deprived due process duty especially in civil establish military executed flag of truce gress guilty habeas corpus high offence infraction interest of justice jayhawkers jury justice and mercy land law of nations lawfully laws and usages laws of war liberty military judicial tribunals military trial military tribunal exists murder open enemy organize military tribunals participants in hostilities peace power conferred power to define prescribe prisoner prisoner of war process of law provisions public enemies regularly rules save human secret participants soldiers take cognizance tion tried usages of war Wheaton's Elements
Popular passages
Page 10 - ... ability and right to organize what is now known as a Bureau of Military Justice, they would soon become monster savages, unrestrained by any and all ideas of law and justice. Surely no lover of mankind, no one that respects law and order, no one that has the instinct of justice, or that can be softened by mercy, would, in time of war, take away from the commanders the right to organize military tribunals of justice, and especially such tribunals for the protection of persons charged or suspected...
Page 4 - But the laws of war constitute much the greater part of the law of nations. Like the other laws of nations, they exist and are of binding force upon the departments and citizens of the Government, though not defined by any law of Congress.
Page 12 - The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crime shall have been committed...
Page 14 - Constitution which declares- that no person shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
Page 4 - The first point made at the bar is, whether this enactment be a constitutional exercise of the authority delegated to congress upon the subject of piracies. The constitution declares that congress shall have power to '' define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations.
Page 11 - We have seen that when war comes, the laws and usages of war come also, and that during the war they are a part of the laws of the land. Under the Constitution, Congress may define and punish offenses against those laws, but in default of Congress defining those laws and prescribing a punishment for their infraction, and the mode of proceeding to ascertain whether an...
Page 10 - Considering the power that the laws of war give over secret participants in hostilities, such as banditti, guerillas, spies, etc., the position of a commander would be miserable indeed if he could not call to his aid the judgments of such tribunals; he would become a mere butcher of men without the power to ascertain justice, and there can be no mercy where there is no justice. War in its mildest form is horrible; but take away from the contending armies the ability and right to organize what is...
Page 15 - The military must decide whether he is or not an active participant in the hostilities. If he is an active participant in the hostilities, it is the duty of the military to take him a prisoner without warrant or other judicial process, and dispose of him as the laws of war direct. It is curious to see one and the same mind justify the killing of thousands in battle because it is done according to the laws of war, and yet condemning that same law when, out of regard for justice and with the hope of...
Page 14 - A bushwhacker, a jayhawker, a bandit, a war rebel, an assassin, being public enemies, may be tried, condemned and executed as offenders against the laws of war. The soldier that would fail to try a spy or bandit after his capture, would be as derelict in duty as if he were to fail to capture ; he is as much bound to try and to execute, if guilty, as he is to arrest; the same law that makes it his duty to pursue and kill or capture, makes it his duty to try according to the usages of war. The judge...
Page 4 - To define is to give the limits or precise meaning of a word or thing in being; to make, is to call into being. Congress has power to define, not to make, the laws of nations; but Congress has the power to make rules for the government of the army and navy. From the very face of the Constitution, then, it is evident that the laws of nations do constitute a part of the laws of the land.