In United States v. Palmer (1818) 16 U.S. 610, Mr. Justice Story, sitting on circuit as a trial judge with District Judge John Davis in the District of Massachusetts, certified to the Supreme Court particular questions presented in regard to the construction of the Act of April 30, 1790, relating to piracy. The questions certified required a determination of whether or not a literal interpretation should be given such words as "any person or persons" and "any captain or mariner of any ship or other vessel." Chief Justice Marshall stated the obvious when he said that under a literal construction of the statute those words could be read to "comprehend every human being" and "the whole human race." Chief Justice Marshall noted, however, that a literal construction would apparently support prosecutions by the United States against "any person" on board ships which "belong exclusively to a subject of a foreign state." "The words any person or persons' are broad enough to comprehend every human being. But general words must not only be limited to cases within the jurisdiction of the state, but also to those objects to which the legislature intended to apply them." The courts of the union must view a newly constituted government as it is viewed by the legislative and executive departments of the government of the United States The Court concluded that such prosecutions could not properly be considered "within the true intent and meaning of the Act" and that the literal construction should therefore be rejected in favor of a reasonable one.