Dolly M. E. Filartiga and Joel Filartiga v. Americo Norberto Pena-Irala

IRVING R. KAUFMAN, Circuit Judge:

Upon ratification of the Constitution, the thirteen former colonies were fused into a single nation, one which, in its relations ■with foreign states, is bound both to observe and construe /the accepted norms of international law, formerly known as thé law of nations. Under the Articles of Confederation, the several states had interpreted and applied this body of doctrine as a part of their common law, but with the founding of the “more perfect Union” of 1789, the law of nations became preeminently a federal concern.

Implementing the constitutional mandate for…