rules of the Consolato del Mare, they were on the side of greater stringency and severity. England was the nation that departed least from the rules here laid down. Her general practice was for centuries in strict conformity with them, and, unless as exceptions introduced by Orders in Council, for a particular war, and as a particular exception, the rules of the Consolato were always recognized as the law of nations on the subject of maritime capture, and, as such, incorporated into the municipal law of England. France by means of her marine ordinances (having much the same force as our Orders in Council) overstepped, the provisions of the law of nations (and therefore the rules of the Consolato) far more systematically than we did; and, so far from its being true that the French practice was milder and more humane than our own, the exact contrary was the case, as I shall proceed to show.
By a decree of Francis I. (1563), confirmed by another in 1584, all neutral trade
