faction be made, wherever they happen to be found. And indeed this cuſtom of repriſals ſeems dictated by nature herſelf; for which reaſon we find in the moſt antient times very notable inſtances of it[1]. But here 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. In purſuance of which principle, it is with us declared by the ſtatute 4 Hen. V. c. 7. that, if any ſubjects of the realm are oppreſſed in time of truce by any foreigners, the king will grant marque in due form, to all that feel themſelves 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 ſuch requeſt of ſatisfaction made, the party required do not within convenient time make due ſatisfaction or reſtitution to the party grieved, the lord chancellor ſhall make him out letters of marque under the great ſeal; and by virtue of theſe he may attack and ſeiſe the property of the aggreſſor nation, without hazard of being condemned as a robber or pirate.
V. Upon exactly the ſame reaſon ſtands the prerogative of granting ſafe-conducts, without which by the law of nations no member of one ſociety has a right to intrude into another. And therefore Puffendorf very juſtly reſolves[2], that it is left in the power of all ſtates, to take ſuch meaſures about the admiſſion of ſtrangers, as they think convenient; thoſe being ever excepted who are driven on the coaſts by neceſſity, or by any cauſe that deſerves pity or compaſſion. Great tenderneſs is ſhewn by our laws, not only to foreigners in diſtreſs (as will appear when we come to ſpeak of ſhipwrecks) but with regard alſo to the admiſſion of ſtrangers who come ſpontaneouſly. For ſo long as their nation continues at peace with ours, and they themſelves behave
- ↑ See the account given by Neſtor, in the eleventh book of the Iliad, of the repriſals made by himſelf on the Epeian nation; from whom he took a multitude of cattle, as a ſatisfaftion for a prize won at the Elian games by his father Neleus, and for debts due to many private ſubjects of the Pylian kingdom: out of which booty the king took three hundred head of cattle for his own demand, and the reſt were equitably divided among the other creditors.
- ↑ Law of N. and N. b. 3. c. 3. §. 9.
