The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1838.

ADMIRALTY COURT.-(THIS DAY.

IMPORTANT DECISION.—BOTTONIRY BONDS.
Sir C. LUSIIINGTON, this morning, gave judgment in the
case of the ship Vibelia, which was argued a short time ago.
The question arose on the validity of a bottomry bond, exe-
cuted by the master of the vessel at Philadelphia, in which
port the vessel had taken refuge, in consequence of having
sustained serious injuries at sea, on her homeward voyage
from Honduras. The bond was duly executed, but its va-
lidity was impugned on the ground of law, and also of fact.
It was said in the course of the argument, that bottomry
bonds were of a high and sacred character. The only
meaning be attached to the observation was, that where
once a transaction was clearly proved to have been of a
bottomry character, and the bond was in all its essentials
apparently correct, the presumption of the law was in favour
of its validity, and should not be impugned, except where
there was conclusive evidence of fraud, or where the money
had been advanced on different considerations, and it ap-
peared to him that this view of the question was confirmed
by the very nature of bottomry transactions themselves.
All these transactions must be the act of the mas-
ter or agent of the owner, and the presumption was,
that he would perform his duty honestly, and not unne-
cessarily subject the property of his principal to heavy bur-
dens. Again, these transactions taking place in a distant
country, furnished another reasonable presumption in favour
of the bond signed by the Master. It was for the greatest
advantage of the shipping interest that bottomry transactions
should not be rendered too difficult, and in ordinary cases
there was the less reason to complain, because the interest
of the owner could never be affected, save by the act of his
own selected agent, except in a few cases where the original
master was no longer in possession of the command. Th,
facts of the case were very few and simple. There were
two very essential particulars, admitting of no doubt. The
absence of all personal credit was beyond question ; and
the distress was not only admitted, but .it was contended
on the part of the owner, that the injuries were
.so exten
sive, and the expense of the repairs so enormous, that they
ought to have been abandoned. Assuming this, the question
with the was, could such circumstances affect the validity of a bottomry
coun-
tenance Did the evidence in this case satisfy the Court
either that Mr. Baldwin had been guilty of fraudulent con-
duct in advancing the money or deficient in the exercise
of
that caution which the law exacted from him? He was
decidedly
a and
df contraryoadvi
ee
of. r ohagent t
to Lloyd's, and the British Consul. No objection was
raised to the Commission. Looking at all the facts he
Pe
nion
master rolfe the acted
au
without hesitation came to the conclusion that this trans-
action was not tainted with fraud or with a corrupt
,desfre unreasonably to profit by the distreos of the vessel,
' •

It was said that the transaction had proved ruinous
to the owner. That this adventure had turned out
unprofitably there could be no doubt, but the ques-
tion was whether that circumstance affected the validity
of the bond. If the master had been compelled to repair
the vessel by Mr. Baldwin against his remonstrance, the
case would have assumed a different aspect, and would
clearly approach a case of fraud ; but this was wholly un-
supported by any act prior to the date of the bond, and in
direct opposition to the master's conduct throughout the
whole transaction. The question came to this—not whe-
ther all the advances were originally made on the bottomry
undertaking, but whether any part of the responsibility
was incurred on money advanced on personal credit. He
was clearly of opinion that Mr. Baldwin did not intend to
advance money on personal credit at all, and was perfectly
satisfied as to the validity of the bond, in favour of which
he therefore pronounced, and with costs.