1822. The Trinidad. rity require of her the vindication of her own neutrality, and of her sovereign right to remain the Santissima peaceable and impartial spectator of the war. As to her it is immaterial in whom the property of the offending vessel is vested. The commission under which the captors act is the same, and that alone communicates the right of capture, even to a vessel which is national property." We are satisfied of the correctness of this doctrine, and have no disposition to shake it. In cases of violation of neutral territorial jurisdiction no distinction has ever been made between the capture of public and private armed ships; and the same reason which governs that, applies with equal force to this case. Case of the Exchange, 7 An objection of a more important and comprehensive nature has been urged at the bar, and that is, that public ships of war are exempted from the local jurisdiction by the universal assent of nations; and that as all property captured by such ships is captured for the sovereign, it is, by parity of reasoning, entitled to the like exemption; for no sovereign is answerable for his acts to the tribunals of any foreign sovereign. In the case of the Exchange, (7 Cranch, 116.) the distinguished grounds of the exemption of public ships were fully from this case. discussed and expounded. It was there shown that it was not founded upon any notion that a foreign sovereign had an absolute right, in virtue of his sovereignty, to an exemption of his property from the local jurisdiction of another sovereign, when it came within his territory; for that would be to give him sovereign power beyond the limits of his own empire. But it stands upon principles of public comity and convenience, and arises from the presumed consent or license of nations, that foreign public ships coming into their ports, and demeaning themselves according to law, and in a friendly manner, shall be exempt from the local jurisdiction. But as such consent and license is implied only from the general usage of nations, it may be withdrawn upon notice at any time, without just offence, and if afterwards such public ships come into our ports, they are amenable to our laws in the same manner as other vessels. To be sure, a foreign sovereign cannot be compelled to appear in our Courts, or be made liable to their judgment, so long as he remains in his own dominions, for the sovereignty of each is bounded by territorial limits. If, however, hé comes personally within our limits, although he generally enjoy a personal immunity, he may become liable to judicial process in the same way, and under the same circumstances, as the public ships of the nation. But there is nothing in the law of nations which forbids a foreign sovereign, either on account of the dignity of his station, or the nature of his prerogative, from voluntarily becoming a party to a suit in the tribunals of another country, or from asserting there any personal, or proprietary, or sovereign rights, which may be properly recognized and enforced by such tribunals. It is a mere matter of his own good will and pleasure; and if he happens to hold a private domain within another territory, it may be that he cannot obtain full redress for any injury to it, except through the instrumentality of its Courts of justice. It may there 1822 The Santissima Trinidad. 1822. The Trinidad. fore be justly laid down as a general proposition, that all persons and property within the territorial jurisSantissima diction of a sovereign, are amenable to the jurisdiction of himself or his Courts: and that the exceptions to this rule are such only as by common usage, and public policy, have been allowed, in order to preserve the peace and harmony of nations, and to regulate their intercourse in a manner best suited to their dignity and rights. It would indeed be strange, if a license implied by law from the general practice of nations, for the purposes of should be construpeace, ed as a license to do wrong to the nation itself, and justify the breach of all those obligations which good faith and friendship, by the same implication, impose upon those who seek an asylum in our ports. We are of opinion that the objection cannot be sustained; and that whatever may be the exemption of the public ship herself, and of her armament and munitions of war, the prize property which she brings into our ports is liable to the jurisdiction of our Courts, for the purpose of examination and inquiry, and if a proper case be made out, for restitution to those whose possession has been devested by a violation of our neutrality; and if the goods are landed from the public ship in our ports, by the express permission of our own government, that does not vary the case, since it involves no pledge that if illegally captured they shall be exempted from the ordinary operation of our laws. The last question which has been made at the bar, on which it is necessary to pronounce an opinion, is as to the effect of the asserted condemnation of the property in controversy, at Buenos Ayres, during at 1822. The Trinidad. Condemnation Buenos Ayres, no bar to the present proceedings. the pendency of this suit. Assuming, for the purpose of argument, that the condemnation was regular- Santissima ly made, and is duly authenticated, we are of opinion that it cannot oust the jurisdiction of this Court, after it had once regularly attached itself to the cause. By the seizure and possession of the property, under the process of the District Court, the possession of the captors was devested, and the property was emphatically placed in the custody of the law. It has been since sold, by consent of the parties, under an interlocutory decree of the Court, and the proceeds are deposited in its registry, to abide the final adjudication. Admitting, then, that property may be condemned in the Courts of the captor, while lying in a neutral country, (a doctrine which has been affirmed by this Court,) still it can be so adjudicated only while the possession of the captor remains; for if it be devested, in fact, or by operation of law, that possession is gone which can alone sustain the jurisdiction. A fortiori, where the property is alrealy in the custody of a neutral tribunal, and the title is in litigation there, no other foreign Court can, by its adjudication, rightfully take away its jurisdiction, or forestall and defeat its judgment. It would be an attempt to exercise a sovereign authority over the Court having possession of the thing, and take from the nation the right of vindicating its own justice and neutrality. Upon the whole, it is the opinion of the Court that the decree of the Circuit Court be affirmed, with costs. 1822. Evans Eaton. [COMMON LAW. ́ EVANS V. EATO A party cannot entitle himself to a patent for more than his own inven tion; and if the patent be for the whole of a machine, he can maintain a title to it only by establishing that it is cstantially new in its structure and mode of operation. If the same combination existed before in machines of the same nature up to a certain point, and the party's invention consists in adding some new machinery, or some improved mode of operation, to the old, the patent should be limited to such improvement; for if it includes the whole machine, it includes more than his invention, and therefore cannot be supported. When the patent is for an improvement, the nature and extent of the improvement must be stated in the specification, and it is not sufficient that it be made out and shown at the trial, or established by comparing the machine specified in the patent with former machines in use. The former judgment of this Court in the same case, (ante, vol. III. p. 454.) commented on, explained, and confirmed. A person having an interest only in the question, and not in the event of the suit, is a competent witness. In general, the liability of a witness to a like action, or his standing in the same predicament with the party sued, if the verdict cannot be given in evidence for or against him, is an interest in the question, and does not exclude him. ERROR to the Circuit Court of Pennsylvania. This is the same case which was formerly before this Court, and is reported ante, vol. 3. p. 454.; and by a reference to that report, the form of the patent, the nature of the action, and the subsequent proceedings, will fully appear. The cause was now again brought before the Court upon a writ of error to the judgment of the Circuit Court, rendered upon the new trial, had in pursuance of the mandate of this Court. Upon the new trial, several exceptions were taken |