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other attributes devolves upon it the cognizance of "all cases in law or equity arising under the constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made or which shall be made under their authority," and "all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;" and renders it sovereign, as to determination upon property, whenever that property is within its reach. See 3 Dall. 12, 13; Bee's Adm. 278.

The Africans of the Amistad who, when found by Lt. Gedney, were de facto free, and in part at lease within the territorial limits of a free state, were seized by him, at the instance of Ruiz and Montez, as their property. They were libelled with the vessel and cargo, as property, for salvage, and were taken into the custody of the law, under a warrant of seizure from the District Court. If they were in fact property, and liable to be treated as such, by any department of the Government of the United States, they were then in the custody of a judicial tribunal, competent to award and restore the possession to the true proprietor, whenever his title should be proved. A "case" had arisen in which the question of freedom or property, which lies at the foundation of all jurisdiction over the Africans, was involved; and in which, if the Court had jurisdiction over them as property, its power was necessarily sovereign and exclusive. See 3 Dall. 13; 7 Wheaton, 284-310; Bee's Adm. Rep. 278, 9.

If, under any circumstances, it would have been competent for the Executive, on a demand by the Spanish minister, to investigate the facts, and decide on conflicting claims to property in the custody of a public officer, claimed by foreign subjects under a treaty, (which may well doubted, see Wheaton's El. 289; 7 Wheaton's Rep. 284, 310,) it seems very clear that the Spanish claimants were at liberty, if they preferred it. to avail themselves of the stipulation in the treaty, and seek their remedy by an application to the court. For it is expressly provided by the 20th article of the Treaty with Spain: "that the inhabitants of the territories of each party shall have free access to the Courts of Justice of the other, and shall be permitted to prosecute suits for the recovery of their proprieties &c., whether the persons whom they may sue be citizens of the country in which they may be found, or any persons who may have taken refuge therein."

And it seems equally clear that after property in controversy has been placed in custody of the law by process in rem, and the claimants have filed their libels, and voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of the Court, the rights of the litigating parties must be decided by the judicial and not by the executive power. 2 Mason, 436, 463; 7 Wheat.310,
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