British man-of-war brought a Spanish felucca into Charleston,
claiming her as a prize, and she was advertised for sale. No
proceedings to have her adjudicated a lawful prize had been taken
before any court. The Spanish consul applied to the Circuit
Court for an injunction against the sale, claiming that for the
United States to permit it would be a breach of neutrality and
contrary to the law of nations. The British consul resisted the
application on the ground that a sale could not be forbidden in
the absence of any act of Congress on the subject, except by the
President. The Chief Justice, who sat in the case, gave the
opinion, which was that there could be no lawful sale without the
permission of the United States; that it was a matter proper to
be dealt with by the President; that the court would not say how
he should deal with it; but that an injunction might issue to
stop the sale until further order, unless permission should be
sooner obtained from the President.[Footnote: Consul of Spain
_v._ Consul of Great Britain, Bee's Reports, 263.] Here,
therefore, an act which might have been a _casus belli_ was
stayed by a court until and unless the Executive should intervene
and permit it.

The extradition of criminals under a treaty on the demand of a
foreign government presents a debatable ground in respect to the
subject now under consideration. The surrender is an executive
proceeding and a political act. But the laws may provide for a
preliminary inquiry before a court into the propriety of
complying with the demand. They certainly provide for a judicial
proceeding by writ of _habeas corpus_ to release any one
arrested in such a proceeding if held without due cause. Is the
court before which either of these proceedings may be had at