Quotes about Extraterritoriality

Pierre Laval

Some countries worry about reciprocity … --that is if their courts hear suits claiming violations of international law in other countries, those countries will retaliate by entertaining suits against them.

Visgoths

When any legal cause of action arises between foreign merchants, it shall not be heard by any of our judges, but by their own, and it shall be decided according to their own laws

This was an amazing leap in the inducement of foreign trade. The Visigoths valued foreign trade so highly that they realized that many foreign merchants would not come to “barbarian lands” for fear of running afoul of local “barbarian” laws. To motivate trade, they actually gave up their legal sovereignty. Rome and the other larger markets did not have to make such concessions. This is the most formalized and sophisticated compendium of laws of the so-called “barbaric peoples” of Europe. The compilation was in many ways a documentation of the traditional laws of the Visigoths that had evolved over hundreds of years.

Samuel Freeman Miller

Another privilege of a citizen of the United States is to demand the care and protection of the Federal government over his life, liberty, and property when on the high seas or within the jurisdiction of a foreign government.

Edward Snowden

I don't think I have committed a crime outside the domain of the US.

Lindsey Graham

I don't think it's rational for a country to try to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in a restaurant in Washington.

David Humphreys

No Commander of any Cruiser belonging to this Regency shall be allowed to take any person of whatever Nation or denomination out of any Vessel belonging to the United States of North America in order to Examine them or under presence of making them confess any thing desired neither shall they inflict any corporal punishment or any way else molest them.

The treaty was ratified by the Senate on March 7, 1796. Much of the text was actually drafted by Joseph Donaldson, a junior diplomat appointed by Humphreys.

Horace Gray

Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Constitution doesn't follow the flag abroad.

Moises Naim

Mafia states integrate the speed and flexibility of transnational criminal networks with the legal protections and diplomatic privileges enjoyed only by states.

Suzan DelBene

U.S. companies need clear guidelines on when they have to turn over electronic communications to law enforcement if that information is stored abroad. The current uncertainty harms U.S. businesses and their customers and does not well-serve our foreign relationships.

Extraterritoriality Quotes