and Congress, in claiming the land for the
United States. He said: "If those departments which are intrusted with
the foreign intercourse of the nation, which assert and maintain its
interests against foreign powers, have unequivocally asserted its right
of dominion over a country of which it is in possession, and which it
claims under a treaty; if the legislature has acted on the construction
thus asserted, it is not in its own courts that this construction is to
be denied. A question like this, respecting the boundaries of nations,
is, as has been truly said, more a political than a legal question, and
in its discussion, the courts of every country must respect the
pronounced will of the legislature."[357] The doctrine thus clearly
stated is further exemplified, with particular reference to Presidential
action, by Williams _v._ The Suffolk Insurance Company.[358] In this
case the underwriters of a vessel which had been confiscated by the
Argentine Government for catching seals off the Falkland Islands
contrary to that government's orders sought to escape liability by
showing that the Argentinian government was the sovereign over these
islands and that, accordingly, the vessel had been condemned for wilful
disregard of legitimate authority. The Court decided against the company
on the ground that the President had taken the position that the
Falkland Islands were not a part of Argentina. It said: "Can there be
any doubt, that when the executive branch of the government, which is
charged with our foreign relations, shall, in its correspondence with a
foreign nation, assume a fact in regard to the sovereignty of any island
or country, it is conclusive on the judicial department? And in this
view, it is not material to inquire, nor is it the province of the court
to determine, whether the executive be right or wrong. It is enough to
know, that in the exercise of his constitutional functions, he had
decided the question. Having done this, under the responsibilities which
belong to him, it is obligatory on the people and government of the
Union. If this were not the rule, cases might often arise, in which, on
most important questions of foreign jurisdiction, there would be an
irreconcilable difference between the executive and judicial
departments. By one of these departments, a foreign island or country
might be considered as at peace with the United States; whilst the
other would consider it in a state of war. No well-regul