New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-04-26

SS6s52 ~ ~ = 81 q ysrdsce e
favof 81 tho olfy a NoW Otlsans, and
| 6eSipfs d. 6a0uel kogan.
| UnGsea eaaess Cmcait Cours, Hsa. 4. n.
Darsll, Distyice JuAxe, Rresldlns.
In the case of the United States We. 0. F..
Boomer, the forfeiture of former recog-
| nizance was set aside.
In the case of T.. B. Bigelow w. E. w.
Burbank, it was ordered that w. O. Dene-
gre, receiver. and George w. 4cDOugal.
assignee Of BigelOw & Hancock, show
cause on the first day Of May 1871, at eleven
O'Clock, why the vSfdict Of the jury
and the judgment Of the court should not
be set aside, and a new trial granted for
grounds fled.
An IppeStant Decision II Aa"iraits.
We have been furnished. through the
courtesy of Mr.. Henry Lengford, the steno-
/ grapher, with the following able and com
prehensive decision, recently rendered by
| the United States admiralty courts are
called upon to grant trial by jury in all
admiralty cases, and defining at length the
law upon the subject:
Mamie May Vs. Philip CroolR; John Lewis
vs.. Jacob GregOr. In these two cases the
counsel for the respondent have asked a
trial by jury, and have referred for authori-
|
United States Statutes at Large" page 726,
being chapter. twenty, Twenty eighth Con-
gress, and which reads as follows;
''Be it enacted, That the district courts of
the United States shall have, possess, and
exercise the same jurisdiction in matters Of
contract and tort, arising in .or concerning
steamboats, and other vessels of twenty toes
burden an1 upwards, enrolled and licensed
for the coasting trade, and ut the Same time
s,,1 a<.r
cation between ports and places in different
States and Territories upon the lakes and
navigable waters connecting said lakes, as
is now possessed and exercised by the said
courts in cases Of the like steamboats, and
other vessels employed in navigation and
commerce upon the high seas or tide waters
within the admiralty and maritime jurisdic-
ton Of the United States; and in all
suits brought in such courts, in all such
matters of contract or tort, the reine-
dies, and the forms of process, and
the modes of proceeding, shall be the
same as are, or may be used byssuch courts
in admiralty and maratime Jurisdiction;
and the maratime law Of the United States,
SO far as the same is, or may he applicable
thereto shall constitute the rule of decision
in such suits, in the same manner and to
the same extent, and with the same equi-
ties as it now does in cases of admiralty
j
ever, to the parties the right of trial by
jury of alb facts put in issue in such suits,
where either party shall require it; and
saving also to the parties the right of q
concurrent remedy at the common law,
where it is competent to give it, and any
concurrent Nmedy which may be given by
the State law, where such steamer, or other
vessel, is employed in such business of COM
merce and navigation"
Osof do 70 tot p,fo IN
the reports of the Supreme Court is to be
found in the opinion delivered by the late
Chief Justice fancy, in the case of the Gen
esee Chief The Chief Justice says:
"The principal objection made to the adj
Miralty jurisdiction, is the want of the trial
by jury, and it is this. feature in the admir-
atty practice which made it the object of so
much jealousy in England in the time of
Lord Coke; and enabled him to succeed in
his efforts to restrict it to very narrow limits.
But experience in England has proved that
wider range Of Jurisdiction wis necessary
for the benefit of commerce and navigation;
and that they needed courts acting more
promptly than courts of common law, and
not entangled with the niceties and strict
ness OF common law pleadings and
proceedings. And during the reign of. the
present queen, the admiralty. Jurisdiction
has been extended to maratime services
aud contracts, and to torts in navigable
waters, although the place where the ser
vice was performed or the contract made,
or the tort committed was within the body
of county and within the jurisdiction of
the courts of common law. A concurrent
jurisdiction is reserved to the last mentioned
courts, if the party complaining chooses to
select that mode of proceeding. But in the
English admiralty, the old objection re-
mains, and neither party iss entitled to
trial by jury. The court in its discretion
may send the question Of fact to a jury, if it
thinks proper to do so. But the party can
not demand it as matter of right. Yet
the English people have certainly lost moth
ing of their attachment to the trial by jury
since the days of Lord Coke. And this
recent and great enlargement of the adj
of it has been felt, and that experience has
shown its necessity where the interests of
an extensive commerce and navigation are
concerned.
"But the act of Congress of which we are
speaking is free from the objection to which
the English statute is liable. Like the
English statute, it saves to the party a con-
current remedy at common law in any
court of the United States, or Of State
which may be competent to give it. But it
goes further. 1t secures 10 the parties the
"a a~A W July 90 q meGkOI Vi IISu Iuc
courts. Elmer party, may de-
mand it. . And it thus effectually removes
the great and leading objection, always
heretofore made to the admiralty jurisdic.
ton" IL H. 459.
Now, the statute of 1916 was enacted as
an enabling statute. Prior to said act the
Supreme Court had held with great tenacity
to the English doctrines touching the local
jurisdiction Of courts of admiralty, limiting
the same to tide water
No doubt Congress supposed that in en-
acting the statute of 1845 it was extending
the jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty.
But such was not the doctrine of the Chief
Justice, as appears from the folDwing ex-
tract from his opinion, delivered in the case
Of the Genesee Chief:
at SO happened that NO seizure was
made, and NO case calling for the exercise |
OF admiralty power arose for a long period
Of time upon any navigable waters where
the tide did not ebb and flow. As we have
before stated, there were no navigable |
waters in the United States upon which |
in the usual acceptation OF the |
word, was carried on except tide water,
until the valley of the Mississippi was set
tied and cultivated, and steamboats, |
and no case, Therefore, came be- |
fore the court during the early period Of the |
government that required it to determine |
whether this Jurisdiction could be extended |
above tide water. 1t ID perhaps to be re-
GREETED that such a case did not arise, for