Ch. IV. Sec. III.] Of Letters of Marque, ^c. 41 ency of commencing hostilities, his subject's cannot legally adopt the lex talionis without the royal authority {a). As ob- served by Sir Wm. Blackstone {b the necessity is obvious of calling in the sovereign power to determine when reprisals may be made ; else every private sufferer would be a judge in his own cause. The law has therefore wisely ranged the right to grant letters of marque and reprisals, either during war or peace, among the jura regalia^ and has vested it solely in the King (c) : so that by the law of the admiralty, the property in a ship taken from the aggressors, without letters of marque and reprisals, vests in the King as a droit to the Crown, not in the suffering or other subject who captured it {d). And it has been decided that a subject of the King cannot take goods belonging to the subjects of a prince in amity with the King by virtue of letters of marque, granted by any other sove- reign or state (^). It must be remembered that the power which his Majesty grants to his subjects by the letters of marque and reprisals, should be restrained in its operation to the subjects of the off'ending state ; and it has therefore been determined that a clause in a charter which empowers the seizing the goods of «very person is illegal and void ( /). The effect of the grant is to authorize the seizure of the bodies and goods of the subjects of the offending state, which may be detained till satisfaction be made, but no longer {g). The statute 4 Hen. 5. c. 7. declares that " if any subjects of the realm are oppressed in the time of truce by any foreigners, the King will grant marque in due form to all that feel them- selves grieved," which form is thus directed to be observed ; the sufferer must first apply to the Lord Privy Seal, and he shall make out letters of request under the privy seal; and if after (a) Hal. P. C. 162. 1 Vera. 52. Re- jcital 4 Hen. 5. c. 7. (b) 1 (V)mm. 259. (c) Ibid. Molloy, 30, b. 1. c. 2. «. 10. 2 Rol. Ab. 175. Chitty's Law of Nat. 73. (rf) Vin. Abr. Prerog. N. A. pi. 22. -Carth. 399. 2 Wooddn. V. L. 433. 10 Vez. 155. (c) 2 Vera. 592. (/) See Shower, 137. In the case of the Sacra Famitia it was decided that a vessel cruizing under letters of marque against one state, as for instance, against France, is at liberty, on obtaining no- tice of hostilities commenced against another, as Spain, to capture a Spanish vessel, with as full advantage to herself as if the prize had been French. 5 Rob. R. 360. (g) Grotius, b. 3. c. 2. 1 Bla. Com. 258. Vattel. b. 2. c. 13. 2 Wooddn. 435 to 440. such
