INTERNATIONAL LAW--TREATIES--ARE THE RUM TRETATIES SELF-EXECUTING?

Authors

Abstract

On May 22, 1924, the United States concluded a treaty with Great Britain by which the latter power agreed that it would raise no objection to the search and seizure of its ships by American authorities on the high seas, provided there was reason to suspect that such ships were committing or attempting to commit an offense against United States laws, and provided the search and seizure were made within an hour's run of the American coast. In return the United States conceded to British ships the privilege of bringing into its ports liquor in bond in their ship stores. The treaty also contained an affirmance of the three-mile rule as to marginal seas. By this and Identical treaties which had been negotiated with most of the other maritime nations, it was hoped that much of the illicit liquor traffic might be suppressed. However, the objection has been raised that these treaties did no more than clear the way for Congressional legislation, without which they are of no practical importance; that the treaties cannot operate as penal legislation, and that heretofore it had not been a crime to sell liquor outside the four-league limit fixed by the Tariff Act 42 STAT. L. 979, FED. STAT. ANN. 1922 SUPP. 171, which is an incorporation of provisions enacted in 1790 and 1799 as I STAT. L. 157, 648. This argument has been advanced in a number of recent federal cases, with varying results.

Recommended Citation

INTERNATIONAL LAW--TREATIES--ARE THE RUM TRETATIES SELF-EXECUTING?, 24 Mich. L. Rev. 281 (1926).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol24/iss3/6