The New York herald., 1870-09-10

OF the United States In my opinion, their interest
ana later, when il was found necessary reinforce
TINS exclusive intendment the act OF March ., 1910,
was passed, which provided as follows:-
That from soth Of June next letter
or ;s G. ::
DSsa With such s..asss m
This legislation, still IN force, Is to my mind effect
y American ssa e vsssS
cation aots the .Nhin the meaning OF the Nav.
Thas iss9' iss Of September !, l7s0 and othes.;
..ecesslty certify the fact OF ownership By American
certiicate that a certain vessel Is foaaena rer6is
entitled to the national protection OF the govern.
cerncate is not in terms forbidden by the act OF
lsl0; but 1t Is also true that IL is not authorized by
oas aw ana as II Is nS 0 s
conclusion OF law rather than fact, ie would pro.
baby not be recognized as having international
Your fourth aud last question Is as follows eff
yon are Of the opinion that such vessels are entitled
| TO the protection or the government OF the United
States, please further whether such vessels
are American vessels, within the purvlew Of the act
OF March s. 1886. Sec. o. Is STAT 500 which author
ties the Postmaster General to pay the entire sea
and inland postages to American vessels for the
States and any foreign port or portsr' On the lst
Of september 1882 within the rst Six months OF is
|
Il Stat, L., 55l classified all ships and vessels and
| plainly defined The terms by whcn those classes
| 'One ships vessels Of the United States. TWO,
| other ships or Vessels" The plain definition Of
term ships or vessels OF the United States to signify
ships or vessels registered or enrolled In the man.
ner provided by law, leaving OF course, the second
residuary term, o.ner ships or vesses,n 10 mean
| all those not thus registered or enrolled. There
| were words o. description precise ami definite and
| SO far beyond hazard Of mistake or chance OF mis-
| construction to Le peculiarly SlltaOle 10 nave
been, used in any SUBSEQUENT statute which
Had these words OF description been used in the
| statute referred 10 by you relating TO the postal
laws, not only would there have been no difficulty
in answering your question, but, further, there
would, from the reading OF this statute, have arisen
In your mind no such question requiring an answer
| Your difficulty arises wholly from the use In the
statute March g. 1906 following IN this respect that
June Is 1850 az noSsns stat oednsS page IN sa s,
iaws-namey, that Of American vessels ana i
is Of this undenned designation that you now seek
wish TO be informed what Is an "Amerl-
can vessel within the meaning q that statute. In
citizens may own, have before stated, ships or
vessels not entitled to registry ana they may law
rolment without registering or enrollins the same
| Opinion OF Attorney General Gushing, volume six,
o49l Thus there is such fact as mere A!nerGan n
term "An Tican vessel,n and there is another postal
statute, which In Its chief enactment appears i'm
perativey to require that this meaning be given TO
the expression In question. An act to provide for
carrying the malls from the United States to foreign
| ports and for other purposes approved March rs,
| 1861 l3 Stat, 36), provies in its first section
That al steamers and sailing vessels beonsng 70 czens
o. the United states and bound from any port in the United
pasI snJ
saS a e
aSenv 10 ss aos %
arriving at the port Of and shall resevs for such
law '~A''--''' '''"'
Here is the duty Of carving ocean mails in certain
circumstances laid upon all steamers anu sailing
vessels belonging to citizens OF the United States,
without distinction as to the Nationality OF the
the tact Of tSeM having any natonasy whatever or
not. Indeed, think II might well be urged that
these words, In their broadest sense exactly
inteud that citizens OF the United States should
avoid the performance OF the duty thus imposed
upon their property IN eliner o. two ways; that
Is. by TRANSFER or such property 10 another
natlo5ah's ,, or BY declining decimag tee iI. obtain tor
the United states The same phrase, 'oe,ong ing TO
ciEIzsns OF the United SsStes,ff seems have this
breairn when used n the act az February Is is03
\ Sar-Tsirr lietTnItl1n Of the osherw!se undeinel
phrase asct III posSal OF 1866 and 1855 aud
slodid h9tl taa1 a foreign vessel purchased by an
\ American e.rizen- - mentioned Ia your lrs,
\ sci within the meaning OF The statute OF
4 1855, referred 10 In your fourtn Ia sup
/ urged. The second des gDation Of vessels used In
navigation act OF 1859 is tnat or other vesses"
pretended In the rst class, that is, all not register
| ed enrolled, aud embracing among these vessels
c0tted 10 registry or enrolment, yet not registered
nor enrolled nor even transferred 10 another natCn-
! ally.
1856 Is that Of foreign vessels which term would
Include oil vessels such as have just mention
| ed, to make room for which Tie broader
| vessels,h wonld become necessary. But to this
construction OF its own terms the Postal act OF 1864
upon further examination, furnishes contradic.
|
the execution Of Its first, closes with the following
| enactment:-
oath anr nation as aforesaid showing that be has dev
s the sa on or boz
privileges Of Gamer vessel Of the United States.
This Is the penalty provided for all the steamers
and sailing vessels named In the Il st section. Vet
1t IS at once that II Is no penalty at ALL FOR
steamer OF vessel otherwise not entitled to tne prlv
leges OF steamer or vessel OF the United States
for a steamer or vesse SO entitled but owner
chooses 10 forego those privileges. lean. however,
relnquish tile opinion that the penalty which this
TUE imposes IS as wide as the duty which
1t enjons, that It's sanction Is as comprehensive
opinion that the words privileges OF steamer or
vessel OF the United States as used in the second
Ion m inc o. ne aoF % H ns s a
must be taken to furnish the true definition and
exact meaning OF the seemingly broader phrase OF
the first section, "oelongns to citizens OF the United
Stares' and, JOrttor1 as defining the more vague
phrase "Amerlcan vessel" as used in the Postal act
| OF March 3, 1866 Accordingly / answer your fourth
| question in the negative.
, Two important considerations confirming this con-
clusion should be mentioned. 1t relieves me from
giving such meaning to a statute OF the UnlIed
States would allow ian American vessel'' To bear
q foreign flag, since mere American ownership of IL
vessel or the United States Is not inconsistent
with "nationai character .as a foreign vessel.n
IL also relieves you and every officer OF the govern
Inent, except those ofcers OF the Customs, who are
by statutes special TO THAT matter, charged with
that duty, from the necessity In general or deter
mining ia pals, the fact OF ownership. by American
or other citizens, or steamers vessels the nation
| ali;y OF which you may be required TO know
A. have construed the flrst section OF the net OF
1854 you are at liberty to treat as steamer OF sail
Ing vessel belonging 70 citizens OF the United States
as an American vessel, one shown 50 10 belong or
to be by the records Of the Custom House of the
United States aud other; those records being the
only source whence The United Staes can derive
knowledge OF the ownership or Nationality OF It's