Article 1, Section 8, Paragraphs 8-10
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
Maritime Law
International Law is opinion.
This is an incredible privilege to include in the Constitution. The great oceans surround the United States. It falls to the Federal Government to regulate and control the waters around the U.S.
"International law is mainly the product of the conditions from time to time of international intercourse...." Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
It falls to the government to decide what is an acceptable use of the waterways, so that they remain open to the public and are not privately held and controlled (piracy). Merchant ships need to know they can travel the waters without fear of attack. Only God can help them with the conditions.
Psalm 107:23-31, "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"
God commanded mankind to take control of the fish in the sea. This includes managing them wisely and carefully, as God would teach us to do. Man has to rely on God to control the elements of the weather.
Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
God’s promises and regulations to Israel were about the land. The oceans are a temporary barrier that slows the spread of evil. The laws that govern the use of land would apply in principle to the use of the waters. When the Lord comes back, the oceans and seas will be gone.
Revelation 21:1, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea."
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