Also known as: jus gentium · law of nations
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A principle or rule derived from the law of nations. The law of nations consists of customary international norms that sovereign states recognize as binding in their mutual relations and that authorize punishment of certain universal offenses.
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Congress enacts a statute authorizing federal prosecution of foreign nationals who attack merchant vessels on the high seas. Prosecutors charge defendants under the new law. The court upholds the statute because Congress may define and punish offenses against the law of nations.
A U.S. service member murders her husband on a foreign military base. She argues that local courts lack jurisdiction because the offense occurred under U.S. authority. The Supreme Court holds that the Constitution does not permit trial by military commission for civilians and requires application of ordinary constitutional protections.
A company ships weapons to a foreign belligerent despite a presidential proclamation. Executives claim the proclamation exceeds executive power. The Court recognizes that the President possesses inherent authority to conduct foreign relations under principles recognized among nations.
Foreign plaintiffs sue a corporation for alleged human rights violations committed abroad. The Court determines that the claims lack sufficient connection to the United States. Jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Statute is unavailable because the conduct does not sufficiently touch and concern U.S. territory.
Two operators claim exclusive rights to navigate waters between states under conflicting state and federal grants. The Court resolves the conflict by recognizing federal supremacy in regulating commerce with foreign nations and among the states.
A foreign government seizes assets of a U.S. company. The company sues in U.S. court to recover the property. The Court declines to adjudicate the validity of the foreign act because courts generally refrain from questioning the public acts of recognized foreign sovereigns within their own territory.
It authorizes Congress to define and punish offenses against the law of nations, such as piracies and felonies on the high seas, under the express grant in Article I, Section 8.
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It supplies the substantive norms whose violation gives rise to jurisdiction for aliens in federal court, but claims must sufficiently touch and concern the United States to proceed.
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Yes. Principles derived from the law of nations vest exclusive authority in the federal government to conduct foreign relations and to make rules governing captures and offenses on the high seas.
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…was legitimate ,' there is no necessity to appeal to the oracles of the jus commune for the correctness of that doctrine. The law of nations, regarding man as a social animal, pronounces all commerce legitimate in a state of peace, until prohibited by positive law. The power of a sovereign state over commerce, therefore, amounts…