§. 9. I doubt not but this will seem a very strange doctrine to some men; but
before they condemn it, I desire them to resolve me by what right any prince or
state can put to death or punish an alien for any crime he commits in their
country? It is certain their laws, by virtue of any sanction they receive from
the promulgated will of the legislature, reach not a stranger. They speak not
to him, nor, if they did, is he bound to hearken to them. The legislative
authority by which they are in force over the subjects of that commonwealth
hath no power over him. Those who have the supreme power of making laws in
England, France, or Holland are, to an Indian, but like the rest of the world
— men without authority. And therefore, if by the law of Nature every man
hath not a power to punish offences against it, as he soberly judges the case
to require, I see not how the magistrates of any community can punish an alien
of another country, since, in reference to him, they can have no more power
than what every man naturally may have over another.
