On Article V.
This article taken from the Convention of 1800 between
the United States and France, is conformable to the general
practice of the prize Courts in the latter, and is the more
worthy of adoption every where as it would contribute so much
to the consistency and stability of the rules of Admiralty
proceedings. Without a single objection justly lying against
it, it will have the important advantages, of being a check on
the inferior tribunals, of enabling the superior tribunal
where a faulty reason appears on the face of the sentence, to
correct the wrong without delay or expense, and of being a
check moreover on the decision of the superior tribunal itself.
As prize causes also are tried by courts not of a third party,
but of one of the parties interested, it is but reasonable that
the ground should be known to the other on which judgment
has passed against its citizens or subjects; in order, if deemed
proper, that negotiations may be employed for redressing
past or guarding against future injustice.
