           Coffin v. U.S., 156 U.S. 432 (1895) 

                Commentary by Jon Roland

The decision and opinion in this case are both correct, so far as they go, 
but are too narrow. That fact is that Congress had and has no authority to 
impose criminal penalties for the act committed, and that section 5209 of 
the Revised Statutes was and is unconstitutional. It would have such 
authority only if the act occurred on territory ceded to the exclusive 
jurisdiction of Congress by an act of the Indiana Legislature under Art. I 
Sec. 8 Cl. 17 of the U.S. Constitution, and no such act was adopted by the 
Indiana Legislature for the parcel of land on which the acts were alleged to 
have occurred. Nor was or is there any authority for the government of the 
United States to charter a bank to operate on other than federal enclaves 
created under Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 17 of the U.S. Constitution, and if a state 
should allow it to operate on its territory, it would be governed by the 
laws of that state and not by the laws of the United States.

Under the U.S. Constitution, there are only three kinds of criminal 
jurisdiction: territorial, subject, and personal. The national Congress has 
general territorial criminal jurisdiction only over the territory of federal 
enclaves created under Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 17. It has subject jurisdiction 
only over (1) treason (Art. III Sec. 3 Cl. 2), (2) counterfeiting (Art. I 
Sec. 8 Cl. 6), (3) piracy and felonies on the high seas (Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 
10), (4) offences against the laws of nations (Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 10), (5) 
enslavement (Amd. 13), (6) importation of alcohol into state where 
prohibited (Amd. 21), and (7) denial of the right to vote on the basis of 
race, color, or previous servitude (Amd. 15), sex (Amd. 19), failure to pay 
a tax (Amd. 24), or age (Amd. 26). The only subjects of personal 
jurisdiction are military personnel and militia personnel when in actual 
federal service (Art. I Sec. 8 Cl. 16).

Since the alleged offenses did not occur on a federal enclave, the only way 
the national government could have criminal jurisdiction would be if the 
officials or employees of the national bank were military or militia 
personnel in actual federal service, which they were not. A government does 
not acquire criminal jurisdiction over the agents of a corporation by 
chartering or regulating it.


