of  enemies'  or  neutral  ships  and  goods  taken  at  sea,  while  vio-
lating belligerent  rights,  —  the  entire  code  of  prize  regulations ;
for  the  disposition  of  public  and  private  property  of  the  enemy
taken  on  land ;  for  the  disposition  of  the  persons  of  enemies
taken  prisoners  ;  and,  doubtless,  for  the  disposition  of  enemies'
territory  conquered  and  held  by  a  victorious  army,  except  sc
far  as  this  power  may  be  controlled  by  the  higher  function  of
treaty-making,  held  by  the  President  and  Senate.
§  457.  The  same  capacity  exists  in  a  civil  war,  while  the
hostilities  are  actually  raging ;  although  the  Constitution  for-
bids private  property  of  citizens  to  be  taken  for  public  use
without  just  compensation ;  and  provides  that  the  citizen  shall
not  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process
of  law ;  and  thus  prohibits  legislative  confiscations,  and  all
other  summary  proceedings  of  a  like  character.  Indeed,  there
is  something  exquisitely  absurd  in  the  supposition  that  a  civil,
any  more  than  a  public,  war  can  be  waged  under  the  protec-
tion of  the  Bill  of  Rights.  This  point  was  definitively  settled
in  the  Prize  Cases,'  just  cited,  with  reference  to  the  private  prop-
erty of  a  resident  within  the  insurgent  territory,  taken  at  sea  ;
and  I  see  no  possible  difference  between  that  case  and  the  case
of  such  property  taken  on  land  during  the  prosecution  of  the
war.
