2.

SCHOONER EXCHANGE VS MCFADDON

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FACTS: Two Americans, herein petitioners, claimed they owned and were entitled to the schooner
Exchange they seized on the high seas. The claim which the United States Attorney, herein defendant, put
forward for the prevention of the ship leaving was that, the ship which was owned by the Emperor of
France had been forced to enter the port of Philadelphia due to bad weather conditions.

At this point in time, the U.S and France were on friendly terms. The United States’ request for the
dismissal of ownership and release of the ship was granted by the district court. However, this judgment
was reversed by the circuit court and this did not prevent the United States from appealing to the U.S.
Supreme Court.

ISSUE: ARE NATIONAL SHIPS OF WAR VIEWED AS BEEN EXEMPTED BY THE CONSENT
OF THE POWER OF THE FRIENDLY JURISDICTION WHOSE PORT THE SHIP ENTERS?

HELD: YES. National ships of war are viewed as been exempted by consent of the power of the friendly
jurisdiction whose port the ship enters. A nation’s jurisdiction within its sovereign territory is exclusive
and absolute.

The Exchange being a public armed ship, currently under the control and supervision of a foreign power,
who at the time of the ship’s entry into the United States territory, was at peace with the United States,
must be viewed as having entered the states territory under an implied promise that while in such
environment, would be exempt from the jurisdiction of the country.

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The absolute form of sovereign immunity from judicial jurisdiction was implicated in this case. Three
principles were brought forward by the court in this case; the immunity that all civilized nations allow to
foreign ministers; the exemption of the person of the sovereign from arrest or imprisonment within a
foreign country; and when a sovereign permits troops of a foreign prince to pass through his territory,
such sovereign is understood to mean he has ceded a portion of his territorial jurisdiction.
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