...early in the history of the Supreme Court. In the case Charming Betsy, Chief Justice Mashall held, 'an act of Congress ought never to be construed to violate the law of nations if any other construction is possible'.16 The European Court of Justice (ECJ) used a similar reasoning in Werner...

...principles of international law. There is support for this approach in the interpretive canon that "an act of congress ought never to be construed to violate the law of nations if any other construction remains."53 This rule is a recognition that rational states do not seek to undermine their...

...into the domestic legal order. Since 1804, for example, the Supreme Court has consistently held that "an Act of Congress ought never to be construed to...nations, if any other possible construction remains. . . ."m Some treaty provisions can be applied directly in US courts if they are considered to be self-executing,...

...Justice Marshall, in a case with the whimsical name of The Charming Betsy,11 proclaimed that federal laws "ought never to be construed to violate the law of...nations if any other possible construction remains." Marshall also made it clear that, in the absence of legislation, the Supreme Court was "bound by the...

...of congressional authorization. In The Charming Betsy (1804), Chief Justice John Marshall held that "an act of congress ought never to be construed to...law of nations, if any other possible construction remains."57 This rule of construction persists in the modern era.58 In a later case, Chief Justice...