DEPENDENCY. A territory distinct from the country in which the supreme 
sovereign, power resides, but belonging rightfully to it, and subject to the 
laws and regulations which the sovereign may think proper to prescribe. It 
differs from a colony, because it is not settled by the citizens of the 
sovereign or mother state; and from possession, because it is held by other 
title than that of mere conquest: for example, Malta was considered a 
dependency of Great Britain in the year 1813. 3 Wash. C. C. R. 286. Vide act 
of congress, March 1, 1809, commonly called the non-importation law.