Prize Cases

"Prize Cases" (1862) – 67 U.S. 635ref|citation – was a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1862 during the American Civil War. The Supreme Court's decision declared constitutional the blockade of the Southern ports ordered by President Abraham Lincoln. The opinion in the case was written by Supreme Court Justice Robert Cooper Grier.

Background

Facing the secession of several states from the Union and the possibility of open hostilities, Abraham Lincoln did not ask Congress to declare war on the Confederate States of America as he believed this would be tantamount to recognizing the Confederacy as a nation. Instead, Lincoln instituted a naval blockade which had interesting legal ramifications, as nations do not blockade their own ports; rather they close them. By ordering a blockade, Lincoln essentially declared the Confederacy to be belligerents instead of insurrectionists.

The Confederate States were mostly agrarian, and almost all of their machined and manufactured goods were imported. At the beginning of the war there was only one significant steel mill and manufactory in the South, the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia. Moreover, the southern economy depended on the export of cotton, tobacco and other crops. The blockade of the South resulted in the capture of dozens of American and foreign ships, both those attempting to run the highly efficient blockade and smuggle goods and munitions to the South as well as those attempting to smuggle exports from the South.

Decision

The question before the court dealt with the seized ships. If there was no formal war, then capturing ships and impounding them is piracy. The Court looked to international law, and concluded that "it is not necessary to constitute war, that both parties should be acknowledged as independent nations or sovereign States." The Court further stated that the President, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, had the authority to proclaim a blockade as a method of waging war. The Court noted that Congress, in 1861, had adopted a law ratifying and approving the President's proclamation as well as other actions taken to prosecute the war, but did not declare whether such Congressional approval was necessary to legitimate the blockade.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court found the actions of President Lincoln constitutional.

ee also

* List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 67

External links

* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=67&page=635 67 U.S. 635] Full text of the opinion courtesy of Findlaw.com.