, where by treaty certain populations have
been collectively naturalized, but such treaty action has not operated
to repeal or annul the existing law upon the subject. Furthermore, with
specific reference to commercial arrangements with foreign powers,
Congress has explicitly denied that a treaty can operate to modify the
arrangements which it, by statute, has provided, and, in actual
practice, has in every instance succeeded in maintaining this
point."[176] The single exception just alluded to is Cook _v._ United
States,[177] which may be regarded as part of the aftermath of National
Prohibition. Here a divided Court, speaking by Justice Brandeis, ruled
that the authority conferred by Sec. 581 of the Tariff Act of 1922 and its
reenactment in the tariff Act of 1930, upon officers of the Coast Guard
to stop and board any vessel at any place within four leagues (12 miles)
of the coast of the United States and to seize the vessel, if upon
examination it shall appear that any violation of the law has been
committed by reason of which the vessel or merchandise therein is liable
to forfeiture, is, as respects British vessels suspected of being
engaged in attempting to import alcoholic beverages into the United
States in violation of its laws, modified by the Treaty of May 22, 1924,
between the United States and Great Britain, so as to allow seizure of
such vessels only within the distance from the coast which can be
traversed in one hour by the vessel suspected of endeavoring to commit
the offense.[178] Only one case is cited in support of the proposition
that the treaty, being of later date than the act of Congress,
superseded it so far as they were in conflict. This is Whitney _v._
Robertson,[179] in which an act of Congress was held to have superseded
conflicting provisions of a prior treaty. Moreover, the act of Congress
involved in the Cook case had, as above indicated, been reenacted
subsequently to the treaty involved. The decision actually accomplishes
the singular result of reversing the maxim _leges posteriores_. It may
be suspected that it was devised to avoid a diplomatic controversy which
in the low estate of Prohibition at that date would not have been
worthwhile.[180]

INTERPRETATION AND TERMINATION OF TREATIES AS INTERNATIONAL COMPACTS

The repeal by Congress of the "self-executing" clauses of a treaty as
"law of the land" does not of itself terminate the treaty as an
international contract, although it may