The Constitution

Article I, Section 8, Clause 10

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

Read it in contextConstitution.1.8.103 Federalist side · 3 other writings · 1 Congress

The Federalist and Federalist essays

quoted bySuggested
A Native of Virginia, Article I, ¶ 68
To define and puniſh piracies and felonies committed on the ••gh ſeas, and offences againſt the law of nations;
The paragraph prints Article I, Section 8, Clause 10 of the Constitution as signed; the quoted words are the same as the clause's (apart from capitals and the long s), though the pamphlet's punctuation differs in places.
quoted byReviewed
Federalist No. 42, ¶ 1
…lodged in the general government, consists of those which regulate the intercourse with foreign nations, to wit: to make treaties; to send and receive ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations; to regulate foreign commerce, including a power to prohibit, after the year 1808, the importation of slaves, and to lay an intermediate duty of ten dollars per head, as…
Reproduces the wording of this clause in its list of the second class of powers, and repeats it as "the power to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas."
cited bySuggested
Federalist No. 42, ¶ 7
For the sake of certainty and uniformity, therefore, the power of defining felonies in this case was in every respect necessary and proper.
Continues the discussion of the power to define felonies on the high seas begun in the previous paragraph, naming "the power of defining felonies in this case."

quoted bySuggested
North Carolina convention, July 30, 1788, ¶ 64
They have power to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations.
Iredell recites the power "to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations".
quoted bySuggested
Virginia convention, June 16, 1788, ¶ 91
Congress have power to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the laws of nations; but they cannot define or prescribe the punishment of any other crime whatever, without violating the Constitution.
The speaker says "Congress have power to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the laws of nations"; the words are not in quotation marks.
quoted bySuggested
Virginia convention, June 17, 1788, ¶ 42
They have not cognizance over any other crime except piracies, felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations.
The speaker says Congress has no cognizance of other crimes "except piracies, felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations"; the words are not in quotation marks.

quoted bySuggested
House, January 28, 1869 (3), ¶ 36
'You have the express power to define the punishment of trea on the express power to 'punish the counterfeiting of coin or securities of the United States; the express power to define and punish piracies and felonies committed upon the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations; exclusive legislative power within this District: express powers to govern all Territories; but where is the express power to define and punish crimes committed in any State by its…
The paragraph, part of a quotation from Mr. Bingham's speech of 1866, names among the express powers of Congress the power "to define and punish piracies and felonies committed upon the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations".

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