pre-emption

When an activity is arguably subject to § 7 or § 8 of the Act, the States as well as the federal courts must defer to the exclusive competence of the National Labor Relations Board if the danger of state interference with national policy is to be averted.

In International Law. The rig&t of pre-emption is the right of a nation to detain the merchandise. of strangers passing through her territories or seas, in order to afford to her subjects the preference of purchase. 1 Chitty, Com. Law 103; 2 Bla. Com. 287. According to general modern usage the doctrine of pre-emption, as applied in time of war rests upon the distinction between articles which are contraband ( q. v.) universally, and those which are contraband only under the particular circumstances of the case. The carrying of the former class entails the penalty of confiscation, either of ship or cargo or both. The latter class, while confiscable according to strict law, are sometimes merely subjected to the milder belligerent right of pre-emplion, which is regarded as a fair compromise between the i*ight of the belligerent to seize, and the claim of the neutral to export his native commodities, though immediately subservient to the purpose of hostility; 3 Phill. Int L. 450; 1 C. Rob. 241. The right of preemption is said to be rather a waiver of a greater right than a right itself; an indulgence to the neutral rather than a right of the belligerent; Ward, Contraband 196. This right is sometimes regulated by treaty. In the treaty made between the United States and Great Britain, November 19, 1794, ratified in 1795, it was provided, after mentioning that the usual munitions of war, and also naval materials, should be confiscated as contraband, that, “whereas the diiliculty of agreeing on precise cases in which alone pro\isions and other articles not generally contraband may be regarded as such, renders it expedient to provide against the inconveniences and misunderstandings which might thence arise, it is further agreed that whenever any such articles so being contraband according to the existing laws of nations shall for that reason be seized, the same shall not be confiscated, but the owners thereof shall be speedily and completely indemnified; and the captors, or, in their default, the government under whose authority they act, shall pay to the masters or owners of such vessel the full value of all articles, with a reasonable mersuch detention.” According to the practice j PREFERENCE. The paying or securing of the British prize court, a profit of ten per to one or more of his creditors, by an insolcent has been usually allowed to the pro- vent debtor, the whole or a part of their prietor of the goods seized, for the purposes claim, to the exclusion of the rest The right of pre-emption; 3 Phill. Int. L. 451. which a creditor has acquired over others See Neutrality. to be paid first out of the assets of his debt-

In international law. The right of pre-emption is the right of a nation to detain the merchandise of strangers passing through her territories or seas, in order to afford to her subjects the preference of purchase. 1 Chit. Com. Law, 103.

In English law. The first buying of a thing. A privilege formerly enjoyed by the crown, of buying up provisions and other necessaries, by the intervention of the king's purveyors, for the use of his royal household, at an appraised valuation, in preference to all others, and even without consent of the owner. 1 Bl. Comm. 287; Garcia v. Callender, 125 N. Y. 307, 26 N. E. 283. In the United States, the right of preemption is a privilege accorded by the government to the actual settler upon a certain limited portion of the public domain, to purchase such tract at a fixed price to the exclusion of all other applicants. Nix v. Allen, 112 U. S. 129, 5 Sup. Ch 70, 28 I Ed. 675; Bray v. Ragsdale, 53 Mo. 170.

— Pre-emption claimant. One who has settled upon land subject to pre-emption, with the intention to acquire title to it, and has complied, or is proceeding to comply, in good faith, with the requirements of the law to perfect his right to it. Hosmer v. Wnilace, 07 U. S. 575, 581, 24 L. Eld. 1130.

— Pre-emption entry. See Entry.

— Pre-emption right. The right given to settlers upon the public lands of the United States to purchase them at a limited price in preference to others.

In American law. A privilege enjoyed by government in relation to Indian lands; an exclusive right to purchase a quantity of public lands, acquired by residence thereon, cultivatioii, etc., in compliance with the law. Pre-emption claimant: one who settles on land subject to pre-emption with the intention of exercising a pre-emptor's rights.

In English law. The first buying of a thing; a privilege formerly enjoyed by the crown, of buying up provisions and other necessaries for the use of the royal household, in preference to all others.

3 1. The first buying of atfiing. A privilege allowed the king's purveyor up to 1661.* 3. The right to purchase at a fixed price in a limited time in preference to others. ^ The exchisive right in a person to purchase a quantitj' of the public lands in consequence of having complied with the laws of Congress upon the subject.'' Pre-emptor; pre-emptioner; preemptionist. He who holds such prior right of purchase. One who by settlement upon the public land or by cultivating a portion of it has obtained the right to purchase a portion of such land, to the exclusion of all other persons. " Pre-emption claimant. One who settles upon land subject to pre-emption, with the intention to acquire its title, and has complied, or is proceeding to comply, in good faith, with the requirements of the law, to perfect his right to it.^ All public lands are subject to pre-emption, except land included in reservations, land within the limits selected as the site of a city or town, laud actually settled and occupied by trade and business and not for ■agriculture, and lands on which are found or situated any known salines or mines. Any adult citizen of the United States, or a foreigner who has filed hisdeclaration to become a citizen, who makes a settle- 1 Chicago, &o. E. Co. v. Town of Oconto, 50 Wis. 196 (1880), Orton, J. 2 Matthews v. Bliss, 32 Pick. 53 (1839), Shaw, C. J. 3 L. pi'CB, before; imere, to take. Also printed preemption. ■I 1 Bl. Com. 287. ' Bowers v. Keesecker, 14 Iowa, 30" (1862): Davenport ■u. Farrar, 1 Scam. 317 (1836), Lockwood, J. ment in person, and inhabits and improves the same, and shall erect a dwelling thereon, may enter, for one hundred and sixty acres, with the land-register, upon paying the minimum price of such land, and proving settlement. But one who has three hundred and twenty acres in any State or Territory cannot pre-empt; nor can one who quits his residence on his own land to reside on public lands in the same State or Territory. Nor can any one file a second declaration for another tract.' A party by mere settlement, with declared intention to obtain a title, does not thereby acquire such interest as to deprive Congress of the power to devest it by a grant to another part.y. The power of Congress ceases when all the preliminary acts, prescribed for the acquisition of the title, have been performed by the settler. Then the settler's interest is vested, and he is entitled to a certificate of entry from the local land-office, and, ultimately, to a patent from the United States. Until such entry, the settler has only a privilege or preference of pre-emption in case the lands are offered for sale in the usual manner. The United States only declare by the pre-emption laws that if lands are thrown open for sale, the preference of sale, in limited quantities, shall be in the first person who settles and improves them.^ The pre-emption laws imperatively require a residence both continuous and personal upon the land. The settler may be excused for temporary absences caused by well-founded apprehension of violence, by sickness, by the presence of an epidemic, by judicial expulsion, or by engagement In the military or naval service. 8 See Land, Public; Patent, 2.

1. Under this term one nation has sometimes. claimed a right in behalf of its subjects to buy the goods of foreigners in transit through her jurisdiction. 2. The iirst buying of any thing. It was a privilege heretofore allowed the king's purveyor, but abolished by Stat. 12 emption, was a right enjoyed by the crown of buying up provisions and other necessaries by the intervention of the king's purveyors, for the use of the royal household, at an appraised valuation, in preference to all others, and even without consent of the owners; and also of forcibly impressing the carriages and horses of the subject to do the king's business on the public roads, in the conveyance of timber, baggage, and the like. This prerogative of the crown appears to have been made the occasion of much abuse in the early reigns, as one of the chief constitutional struggles of the period was for the restriction and regulation of this right. Broum. 3. A privilege accorded by publicland laws, particularly those of the United States, to an actual settler upon a limited portion of the public lands, to purchase thg,t portion, at a fixed price, in preference to all other applicants. Pre-empt: to take initial steps to secure the prior right to purchase a tract of the public lands. Pre-emptioner: one who holds a prior right to purchase certain public land.

intern. law. The right of pre-emption is the right of a nation to detain the merchandize of strangers passing through her territories or seas, in order to afford to her subjects the preference of purchase; 1 Chit. Com. Law, 103; 1 Bl. Com. 287; this right is not exercised by the United States.