848. BLOCKADES, Law of.—
When the
fleet of any nation actually beleaguers the
port of its enemy, no other has a right to
enter their line any more than their line of
battle in the open sea, or their lines of circumvallation,
or of encampment, or of battle
array on land. The space included within
their lines in any of those cases, is either the
property of their enemy, or it is common
property, assumed and possessed for a moment,
which cannot be intruded on, even by
a neutral, without committing the very trespass
we are now considering, that of intruding
into the lawful possession of a friend.—
To Robert R. Livingston. Washington ed. iv, 410.
Ford ed., viii, 91.
(M.
1801)
