United States v. Nunez

82 F. 599, 1896 U.S. App. LEXIS 3062

This text of 82 F. 599 (United States v. Nunez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Nunez, 82 F. 599, 1896 U.S. App. LEXIS 3062 (circtsdny 1896).

Opinion

BROWN, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). As has been rightly stated to von, gentlemen, by counsel, this is a case of more than usual interest and importance; because it not only affects as has been said the individual defendants and their relations perhaps to a. few persons, but. it involves also indirectly international relations. The series of laws or enactments of which the statute under which this indictment is framed is one, known usually as the “Neutrality Laws," were enacted long since, and substantially in the same form in which they exist to-day, during the administration of Washington in 1794. These enactments pretty much covered what it was considered necessary to provide in order to prevent entanglements between this govern • ment and foreign powers, by prohibiting expeditions from this country interfering with belligerents, or with the relations between a mother [600]*600country and its insurgent people, in such a way as to entangle us, and become justly a subject of contention, and in that way, if not checked, liable to lead- us into serious complications. For that purpose the statute of 1794, embracing a number of different provisions, was passed to endeavor to check the various forms in which these evils might arise. I have regarded it from the first as of some consequence to look to that statute as a whole, because what it prohibited, as well as what it did not prohibit, was such as to throw some light upon the different parts of the statute, and show what was intended. This will aid in the interpretation, inasmuch as in the section under which this indictment is drawn, there is such generality of language as to lead to some difficulty or perplexity in its application to particular cases. This observation upon the statute is not my own. It was made by Chief Justice Marshall only a few years after this statute was passed, when he said that there was in this section “a lack of precision in defining the offense, which might hereafter lead to difficulty in its application.’’ It is for that reason that 1 ask your attention for a few moments to the different provisions of the law, that you may understand more clearly the differences between what is lawful, and what is unlawful within our statute. I should say that there have been one or two minor amendments to this statute since it was passed; but they are of quite a minor character, and in no way affect this prosecution. The old law has been embodied in the provisions of the Revised Statutes, adopted in 1874, and is now referred to in different sections of the Revised Statutes.

Section 5282 deals with the enlistment of individuals. Section 5280, under which this indictment is framed, deals with military expeditions or enterprises. Section 5283 deals with armed cruisers, designed to commit hostilities in favor of one foreign power as against another. The section which deals with the enlistment of individuals, section 5282, prohibits any person from enlisting in this country as a soldier-in the service of a foreign power. It also prohibits any person from hiring or retaining any other person to enlist or to go abroad for the purpose of enlisting; but it does not prohibit any person, whether he is a citizen or not, from going abroad himself for the purpose of enlisting in a foreign state or foreign army.

By our legislation, therefore, on this subject, it is evident from this statute, and from,what is prohibited and what is not, that individuals are permitted to go abroad to foreign countries to enlist, when they do so voluntarily and without being induced by other persons, or without hiring, and there is no enlistment in this country. So there is nothing in this statute which prohibits a commercial enterprise. The transportation of goods in a commercial way, whether it be contraband of war or not, is not prohibited by the fact that other nations are at war, or that a colony is in a state of insurrection against the parent country. As there is no prohibition against persons going individually to enlist in foreign armies, so it is competent for them, as a necessary incident to this right, to go in company with one another, one or a dozen or a hundred, and in any way they see fit, so long as they do not infringe the only provision bearing upon that subject, namely, that they do not constitute any military expedition or [601]*601enterprise. It is the some with the transportation of goods. So long as it is a commercial transaction, so long as it is a peaceable transportation by a vessel either of goods or of men, and is without any features of a military character, such as would constitute it a military enterprise or expedition, our statutes do not prohibit it.

The first question, then, which you have to consider, is whether there was in this case a military expedition or not; whether the facts proved before you show that there was what should be properly termed a military enterprise. The indictment is either for beginning or setting on foot a military enterprise or for providing the means for it. If you do not find there was any military enterprise at all,, of course that ends the case.

What constitutes a military enterprise? What are some of the features that mark a military enterprise or expedition as distinguished from a peaceable transportation of passengers, arms, ammunition, or goods? The essential features of military operations are evident enough. They are concert of action, unity of action, by a body organized and acting together, acting by means of weapons of some kind, acting under command, leadership. These are the three most essential elements of military action. On this subject I will read a few passages from the recent case of The Horsa [16 Sup. Ct. 1134], which was before the supreme court, in which this subject is touched on in three or four paragraphs. Chief Justice Fuller in referring to this point says as follows:

“The definitions of the lexicographers substantially agree that a military expedition is a journey or voyage by a company or body of persons, having the position or Character of soldiers, for a specific warlike purpose; also the body and its outfit; and that a military enterprise is a, martial undertaking, involving the idea of a bold, arduous and hazardous attempt. The word ‘enterprise’ is somewhat, broader than the word ‘expedition’; and although ihe words are synonymously used, it would seem that under the rule that its every word should be presumed to have force and effect, the word ‘enterprise’ was employed to give a slightly wider scope to the statute.”

In quoting from the opinion of the court below in approval, the court say:

“If the persons referred to had combined and organized in this country to go to Cuba and there make war on the government, and intended when they reached Cuba to join the insurgent army and thus enlist in its service, and the arms were taken along for their use, that would constitute, a military expedition, and the trail,sporting of such a body from this country for such a purpose would be an offense against the statute.”

Again the court say in approval:

“Any combination of men organized here to go to Cuba to make war upon its government, provided with arms and ammunition, we being at peace with Cuba, constitutes a military expedition. It is not necessary that the men shall be drilled, put in uniform, or prepared for efficient service, nor that they shall have been organized as or .according to the tactics or rules which relate to what is known as infantry, artillery or cavalry.

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82 F. 599, 1896 U.S. App. LEXIS 3062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-nunez-circtsdny-1896.