Murder in a fort or arsenal, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. to punish with death.
Act of March 3, 1825, ch. 65, sec. 4.
and court may order offender’s body to be dissected.Sec. 3. And be it [further] enacted, That if any person or persons shall, within any fort, arsenal, dock-yard, magazine, or in any other place or district of country, under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, commit the crime of wilful murder, such person or persons on being thereof convicted shall suffer death.[1]
Sec. 4. And be it also enacted, That the court before whom any person shall be convicted of the crime of murder, for which he or she shall be sentenced to suffer death, may at their discretion, add to the judgment, that the body of such offender shall be delivered to a surgeon for dissection; and the marshal who is to cause such sentence to be executed, shall accordingly deliver the body of such offender, after execution done, to such surgeon as the court shall direct, for the purpose aforesaid: Provided, That such surgeon, or some other person by him appointed for the purpose, shall attend to receive and take away the dead body at the time of the execution of such offender.
Rescue of a body ordered for dissection, punishment for.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall, after such execution had, by force rescue or attempt to rescue the body of such offender out of the custody of the marshal or his officers, during the conveyance of such body to any place for dissection as aforesaid; or shall by force rescue or attempt to rescue such body from the house of any surgeon, where the same shall have been deposited in pursuance of this act; every person so offending, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, and an imprisonment not exceeding twelve months.
Misprision of felony, what cases shall be judged, and how punished.Sec. 6. And be it [further] enacted, That if any person or persons having knowledge of the actual commission of the crime of wilful murder or other felony, upon the high seas, or within any fort, arsenal, dock-yard, magazine, or other place or district of country, under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, shall conceal, and not as soon as may be disclose and make known the same to some one of the judges or other persons in civil or military authority under the United States, on conviction thereof, such person or persons shall be adjudged guilty of misprision of felony, and shall be imprisoned not exceeding three years, and fined not exceeding five hundred dollars.
Manslaughter in a fort, arsenal, &c. how punished.
Act of March 3, 1825, ch. 65, sec. 4, 6, 7.
Act of March 3, 1829, ch. 64.
Piracy and felony, what cases shall be judged, where to be tried and punished.
Act of May 15, 1820, ch. 113.Sec. 7. And be it [further] enacted, That if any person or persons shall within any fort, arsenal, dock-yard, magazine, or other place or district of country, under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, commit the crime of manslaughter, and shall be thereof convicted, such person or persons shall be imprisoned not exceeding three years, and fined not exceeding one thousand dollars.
- ↑ Murder.—Congress have not in the 8th section of the act of April 30, 1790, for the prevention of certain crimes against the United States, exercised the power, if any such is given by the constitution of the United States, of conferring jurisdiction on the courts of the United States of a murder committed on the waters of a State where the tide ebbs and flows. United States v. Bevans, 3 Wheat. 336; 4 Cond. Rep. 275.
The 3d article of the constitution of the United States, which declares that “the judicial power of the United States shall extend to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,” vests in the United States exclusive jurisdiction of all such cases; and a murder committed on the waters of a State where the tide ebbs and flows, is a case of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. Ibid.
The courts of the United States have jurisdiction of a murder committed on the high seas from a vessel belonging to the United States, by a foreigner being on board of such vessel, upon another foreigner being on board of another vessel. 5 Wheat. United States v. Furlong Hobson|184]]; 4 Cond. Rep. 623.
The courts of the United States have jurisdiction, under the act of April 30, 1790, of a murder committed on the high seas, although not committed on board of a vessel of the United States, as if she had no national character, but was held by pirates or persons not sailing under the flag of any foreign nation. The United States v. Holmes et al., 5 Wheat. 412; 4 Cond. Rep. 708. See also United States v. Magill, 1 Wash. C. C. R. 463. United States v. Drew, 5 Mason’s C. C. R. 28. United States v. Freeman, 4 Mason’s C. C. R. 505. United States v. Ross, 1 Gallis. C. C. R. 624. Dexter v. Spear, 4 Mason’s C. C. R. 115. The United States v. Cornell, 2 Mason’s C. C. R. 91.
