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86 C.J.S. [Corpus, Juris, Secundum, Legal Encyclopedia],
Territories:
"§1. Definitions,
Nature, and Distinctions
"The word 'territory,'
when used to designate a political organization has a distinctive, fixed,
and legal meaning under the political institutions of the United States,
and does not necessarily include all the territorial possessions of the
United States, but may include only the portions thereof which are
organized and exercise governmental functions under act of congress."
"While the term
'territory' is often loosely used, and has even been construed to include
municipal subdivisions of a territory, and 'territories of the' United
States is sometimes used to refer to the entire domain over which the
United States exercises dominion, the word 'territory,' when used to
designate a political organization, has a distinctive, fixed, and legal
meaning under the political institutions of the United States, and the term
'territory' or 'territories' does not necessarily include only a portion or
the portions thereof which are organized and exercise government functions
under acts of congress. The term 'territories' has been defined to be
political subdivisions of the outlying dominion of the United States, and
in this sense the term 'territory' is not a description of a definite area
of land but of a political unit governing and being governed as such.
The question whether a particular subdivision or entity is a territory is
not determined by the particular form of government with which it is, more
or less temporarily, invested.
"Territories' or
'territory' as including 'state' or 'states." While the term
'territories of the' United States may, under certain circumstances,
include the states of the Union, as used in the federal Constitution and in
ordinary acts of congress "territory" does not include a foreign
state.
"As used in this title,
the term 'territories' generally refers to the political subdivisions
created by congress, and not within the boundaries of any of the several
states."
[86 C.J.S. [Corpus, Juris,
Secundum, Legal Encyclopedia], Territories]
U.S. Code Title 48:
Territories and Insular Possessions
Bouvier's Law
Dictionary, 1856:
"TERRITORY. Apart of a country, separated from the
rest, and subject to a particular jurisdiction. The word is derived from
terreo, and is so called because the magistrate within his jurisdiction
has the power of inspiring a salutary fear. Dictum cat ab eo quod
magistratus intra fines ejus terrendi jus habet. Henrion de Pansy, Auth.
Judiciare, 98. In speaking of the ecclesiastical jurisdictions, Francis
Duaren observes, that the ecclesiastics are said not to have territory,
nor the power of arrest or removal, and are not unlike the Roman
magistrates of whom Gellius says vocationem habebant non prehensionem. De
Sacris Eccl. Minist. lib. 1, cap. 4. In the sense it is used in the
constitution of the United States, it signifies a portion of the country
subject to and belonging to the United States, which is not within the
boundary of any of them. 2. The constitution of the United States, art. 4,
s. 3, provides, that "the congress shall have power to dispose of,
and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or
other property of the United States; and nothing in this constitution
shall be construed, so as to preclude the claims of the United States or
of any state." 3. Congress possesses the power to erect territorial
governments within the territory of the United States; the power of
congress over such territory is exclusive and universal, and their
legislation is subject to no control, unless in the case of ceded
territory, as far as it may be affected by stipulations in the cessions,
or by the ordinance of 1787, 3 Story's L. U. S. 2073, under which any part
of it has been settled. Story on the Const. Sec. 1322; Rawle on the Const:
237; 1 Kent's Com. 243, 359; 1 Pet. S. C. Rep. 511, 542, 517. 4. The only
organized territories of the United States are Oregon, Minnesota, New
Mexico and Utah. Vide Courts of the United States."
[Bouvier's Law
Dictionary, 1856]
Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, p. 1473:
"Territory: A part of a country separated from
the rest, and subject to a particular jurisdiction. Geographical
area under the jurisdiction of another country or sovereign
power.
A portion of the United States not
within the limits of any state, which has not yet been admitted as a state
of the Union, but is organized with a separate legislature, and with
executive and judicial powers appointed by the President."
[Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, p. 1473]
Ballantine's Law Dictionary:
"Territory: 1. A geographical region
over which a nation exercises sovereignty, but whose inhabitants do not
enjoy political, social or legal parity with the inhabitants of other
regions which are constitutional components of the nation. With
respect for the United States, for example, Guam or the Virgin Islands as
opposed to New York, California, or Texas."
[Ballantine's Law Dictionary]
Cunard
S. S. Co. v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 100; 43 S.Ct. 504 (1923):
"Various meanings are sought to be attributed to the term
'territory' in the phrase 'the United States and all territory subject to
the jurisdiction thereof.' We are of opinion that it means the regional
areas- of land and adjacent waters-over which the United States claims and
exercises dominion and control as a sovereign power. The immediate context
and the purport of the entire section show that the term is used in a
physical and not a metaphorical sense-that it refers to areas or districts
having fixity of location and recognized boundaries. See United
States v. Bevans, 3 Wheat. 336, 390.
"It now is settled in the United States and recognized elsewhere
that the territory subject to its jurisdiction includes the land
areas under its dominion and control, the ports, harbors, bays and other
enclosed arms of the sea along its coast and a marginal belt of the sea
extending from the coast line outward a marine league, or three geographic
miles. Church v. Hubbart, 2 Cranch, 187, 234; The Ann, 1 Fed. Cas.
No. 397, p. 926; United States v. Smiley, 27 Fed. Cas. No. 16317, p. 1132;
Manchester v. Massachusetts, 139
U.S. 240, 257 , 258 S., 11 Sup. Ct. 559; Louisiana v. Mississippi, 202
U.S. 1, 52 , 26 S. Sup. Ct. 408; 1 Kent's Com. (12th Ed.) *29; 1
Moore, [262 U.S. 100,
123] International Law Digest, 145; 1 Hyde,
International Law, 141, 142, 154; Wilson, International Law (8th Ed.) 54;
Westlake, International Law ( 2d Ed.) p. 187, et seq; Wheaton,
International Law (5th Eng. Ed. [ Phillipson]) p. 282; 1 Oppenheim
International Law (3d Ed.) 185-189, 252. This, we hold, is the territory
which the amendment designates as its field of operation; and the
designation is not of a part of this territory but of 'all' of it."
[Cunard
S. S. Co. v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 100; 43 S.Ct. 504 (1923)]
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