sued, are bound to consider them as lawful relaxations of the
ordinary state of war. In the country which grants them, licences to
carry on a pacific commerce are rigidly interpreted, as being
exceptions to a general rule; though they are not to be construed with
pedantic accuracy, nor will every small deviation be held to vitiate
the fair effect of them.[111]

During the later period of the last century, and the earlier portion
of this, licences were considered as privileges granted to individuals
for their own benefit, and in which the nation at large was but
little, or remotely, interested. They were therefore held liable to
the same strict construction with other similar grants. Yet this rule
was never held in a narrow captious manner; and if the apparent
intention of Government was complied with, and there was no suspicion
of fraud, a sufficient liberality was allowed in the construction.
When the extraordinary mode of warfare established by the Emperor
Napoleon, (by an attempt at a general embargo) was carried on, new
expedients were required to counteract its evils, and licences to a
great extent were granted to relieve the stagnant trade of the
country; and this measure, so highly beneficial, and even necessary,
was facilitated by the adoption of a still more liberal mode of
construction, and which, no doubt, will again guide these cases.[112]

[Sidenote: Duties of Merchants using Licences]

In trading under a Licence, the merchant ought to follow the terms or
it as strictly as possible; but if he is acting _bona fides_, some
breaches of it will be permitted. Being high acts of Sovranty, they
are necessarily the creatures of that act of power, and must not be
carried further than the intention of the great authority that grants
them may be supposed to extend; not that they are to be construed with
pedantic accuracy, nor that any small deviation should be held to
vitiate the fair effect of them. An excess in the _quantity_ of goods
permitted might not he considered noxious to any extent. A variation
in the quality or substance of the goods might be more significant,
because a liberty assumed of trading in one species of goods, under a
license to trade in another, might lead to very dangerous abuses. The
license must be looked to for the enumeration of goods that are to be
protected by it.[113]

The principles on which courts act in treating licences is thus
succinctly laid down by Sir William Scott.--