In Chace and Others v. Vasquez, the appellants argued that they were entitled to a writ of habeas corpus in order to secure their release from imprisonment by the respondent, the Consul General of Portugal. The appellants had been arrested on board a Portuguese vessel while it was docked at an American port for alleged violations of Portuguese law. The Supreme Court held that foreign consuls do not have authority under U.S. law to arrest or imprison individuals within U.S territory; therefore, the court granted a writ of habeas corpus ordering their immediate release from custody and prohibiting any further arrests without due process protections afforded by U.S laws and treaties with Portugal

In Chace and Others v. Vasquez, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a Portuguese consul had jurisdiction over an American citizen who committed a crime in Portugal. The majority opinion held that the consul did have such authority, but Justice Story dissented from this ruling. He argued that under international law, foreign governments could not exercise criminal jurisdiction over citizens of other countries unless they were expressly authorized by treaty or statute to do so. Since there was no such authorization in this case, he concluded that the Portuguese consul lacked any power to try or punish an American citizen for crimes committed abroad. Furthermore, Justice Story reasoned that even if a foreign government did possess some limited authority over its own nationals living abroad it would still be improper for them to exercise criminal jurisdiction against foreigners without express permission from their home country's government first being obtained.