There is no common, non-statutory, federal criminal law. The federal courts have no criminal jurisdiction save that given them by statute of Congress; and no act is recognized as a crime against the peace of the United States except such as has been declared such by act of Congress; and Congress has of course no constitutional power to define as a crime and affix a penalty to the commission thereof, except as to subjects or in places which the Constitution places under federal control, or as a means of compelling obedience to the laws which Congress is constitutionally empowered to enact.

But though the federal courts have no common-law federal jurisdiction, and though there is no common, non-statutory criminal law for them to administer, they may, and indeed have been authorized by statute to adopt common-law remedies and punishments where Congress has not otherwise provided. Thus section 722 of the Revised Statutes reads:

"The jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters conferred on the district and circuit courts by the provisions of this Title and of Title "Civil Rights" and of the Title "Crimes," for the protection of all persons in the United States in their civil rights and for their vindication, shall be exercised and enforced in conformity with the laws of the United States, so far as such laws are suitable to carry the same into effect; but in all cases where they are not adapted to the object, or are deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable remedies and punish offenses against law, the common law, as modified and changed by the Constitution and statutes of the State wherein the court having jurisdiction of such civil or criminal cause is held, so far as the same is not inconsistent with the Constitution and law of the United States, shall be extended to govern the said courts in the trial and disposition of the cause, and, if it is of a criminal nature, in the infliction of punishment on the party found guilty."

9 The Scotia, 14 Wall. 170; 20 L. ed. 822.

In Tennessee v. Davis,10 a case removed from the state into the federal court under section 643 of the Revised Statutes, it was argued that no mode of procedure in trial of the criminal offense charged had been prescribed by act of Congress. The court, however, said: "While it is true there is neither in section 643 nor in the act of which it is a re-enactment, any mode of procedure in the trial of a removed case prescribed, except that it is ordered, the cause when removed shall proceed as a cause originally commenced in that court, yet the mode of trial is sufficiently obvious. The circuit courts of the United States have all the appliances which are needed for the trial of any criminal case. They adopt and apply the laws of the State in civil cases, and there is no more difficulty in administering the State's criminal law. They are not foreign courts. The Constitution has made them courts within the States to administer the laws of the States in certain cases; and so long as they keep within the jurisdiction assigned to them, their general powers are adequate to the trial of any case."