The New York herald., 1875-11-24
THN ALABAMA CASES.
important Decision BY the Court
of Commissioners.
lwners of Vessels Destroyed Enti-
tied to Net Freightage'
JUDGE RAYNOR DISSENTING.
The Question Elaborately and
Ably Discussed.
Wide Effect Of the Rul-
ings Made.
JUDGE RAYNOR DISSENTING
4 II l. A w A r. j. S.

WASHINGTON, Nov 23 1875.
In the Court OF Commissioners Of Alabama Claims
oday the following very important decision rem
Tered, it being delivered by Commissioner Porter
In the Court of Commissioners Of Alabama Claims
Suck and Spohord and sundry other claimants vs. The
United Satesn the matter Of the destruction OF the
hips Highlander and Jabez Snow)-Nos 406, 4O7, 40S,
90, 40, all, 412 597, sos, 500 600, 6ol, $50
The opinion OF the Court was delivered by Judge
Gorer.
In the case Of the ship Winged Racer called
oconslder among other subjects, claim for the loss
II freight After a protracJed argument by eminent
counsel we reached in that case conclusions which
we're and satisfactory to the minds of
majority of the Court In the cases above
mentioned new phases Of the question,
powng out Of different state of facts, presented
This led the counsel of the government to insist on
cargung the original questions decided in the Winged
Racer and, especially desiring TO be right IN point
nvolving 50 large part OF the mohey paid BY Great
Britain, we accorded this privilege both 10 them and
the counsel OF various claimants am to state
VIEWS ENTERTAINED BY THE COURT
Iter listening to these elaborate arguments and then
apply the principles we have adopted to the solution
VI the questions presented Ia the OF the High
nndeT and the Jabez Snow
The government OF the United States presented at
Eeneva large claim for losses of freight The British
Experts launched pointed and severe criticisms at the
llam made for gross reghts, but they could deny
he soundness of the claim for net reghts If the
luct OF Great Britain had rendered her liable for the
lcLs complained of by the United States In the award
Iade in our favor this principle set forth
" the conclusions OF the tribunal that in order to
Trive at an equitable
CONDENSATION FOR THE DAMAGES
which have been sustained is necessary to set aside
I'll double claims for the losses and all claims for
Ioss rcghts so far as they exceed net freighsn When
he act of 23d June, 1874 framed Congress- follow
ng out this principle, gave to this Court the following
Erection tsecton ~ :"And in no shall any claim
10 admitted or allowed for or in respect to unearned
reghts gross reghts, prospective profits, freighs,
Iains or advantages" The term prospective"
,niy Of profits to which il stands in Juxtaposton,
sut also OF reghts, gains or advantages We are not
allow claim for unearned freighs gross freghts
prospective freights Thus by excluding all other
tnds of freight, permitting, and indeed, requiring us,
Q allow claims for net freight-that is, from the
height which a vessel when destroyed engaged in
,arnlng-must be deducted the expenses which she
4ouu have incurred If the voyage had been
tuIy accomplished BY the Immediately preceding
section Of the act required to decide
upon the amount and validity OF such claims not
Dniy in conformity to the provisions Of the statute but
according TO the principles OF law. We to exclude
profits freghts and gains which were prospective and
reghts which We're unearned and we TO do this not
In some arbitrary way dictated by sense OF
justice, but according TO the principles OF jurispru
uence established by of law and adopted BY
the maritime nations OF the world, We know, and
we have known from the beginning, the importance of
reaching sound conclusion the question thus arls
ing both out Of the treaty aud the statute During the
argument we have been properly reminded Of the in
fuence which our decision may hereafter exercise on
the public interests II is said that the United States
expects to carry out in the future, she has in tho
past
DOCTRINE or NEUTRALITY
IL is reasonable that the principles adopted in the dis
applied to her If she should be held responsible for
violating those important rules established by the sixth
government In preventing the dttng out within its
jurisdiction OF vessels intended to carry against
Power with which IL is at peace.
What, then, is prospective freight, employed Ia
the award and in the statueY plain illustration may
supply the answer. The OF ship at Philade-
pha, finding her out of employ ment concluded tnat If
he were at the Chincha Islands he would be sure oil
profitable cargo to Liverpool or New York He pro-
ceeds without any contract written or verbal; equps
hU fhn Ala.a
and sees his own ship sent to the bottom.
He files his claim in this court shows
the loss Of the vessel proves her tonnage
and the customary freight and offers the testimony Of
shippers in Caao who state that If she had then ar
rived they would have supplied cargo equal to the
carrying capacity OF the ship. He exhibits his calcula
ton showing the necessary deductions from tho gross
freight and asks the payment OF his clam. We de.
cline 10 allow IL, and tell him this what the award
meant when declared that irrespective earnings can
not properly be made the subject OF compensation "
and this is what the act of Congress mean when il pro
vded that claim should be allowed for or in respect
TO prospective profits freights gains advantages
Having thus found distinct subject matter TO which
this portion of the statute IS applicable ought by
well settled rules Of interpretation TO rest content that
we have asceraIned the kind OF profits which Congress
meant TO define by the term prospectlve y
uNEARS.D FREIGHTs.
What are ''unearned frelghtsn a employed in tho
actY What kind OF freights do those terms unusual
m tho language OF judges shippers carriers and under
writer's, require to excudef BY forbidding the al
lowance Of unearned ireights il was certainly
have been fully earned Freight Is fully
earned in the judicial as well as popular
sense when the vessel has reached her port Of deslna
lion and the cargo has been deyered-a place in which
she would not be in much danger destruction the
hands OF an insurgent cruiser If destroyed the
question OF freight could have arisen at all for her
charerers would then have been her debtors and the
value OF the vessel only would have been lost her
owners II is impossible TO suppose that Congress
could nave put 50 frivolous thing into serious
statute II is just as clear that lreights wholly
earned could not have been intended that IS where
no expenses had been incurred no stores supplied
bV or
owner toward the commencement of a voyage Here
again the vessel would have been found in nor dock nnd
out of the reach OF any the losses owhch the statute
treats Even II she not her case is cfectually
provided for by the iorbidding of any allowance for
prospective frcights The provision respecting sun-
earned frelghts" evidently Intended TO embrace
something different from that Of The inhibition OF
prospective gains = and TO have some practical effect
on the distribution Of the money In hand Let IL DO
observed them that between these extremes OF freight
wholly earned and freight wholly unearned there is an
ample territory IN winch judicial investigation has
gone from the dawn OF commerce 10 the present
hour and the results found along the whole track
Of the commercial saw
A ship is mahe ready for sea, a charter party more
less iorma executed her cargo shipped she
starts on her voyage she has not then earned her
freight, and Oh the shipper charterer she has
legal claim until after the lapse or many months and
the endurance Of many pepls. But her owner has
spent time and labor IN htting her ont has supplied
the necessary stores advanced the wages the crew
and subjected her 10 the largest risk which property
isever subjected pad to others the required compen
sation for assuming such risk Can IL be said that this
freight Is uncarned in the large ana general
sense in which this term IS used in the slatute2 Tn
earned without qualification. wholly unearned? Can
1t be denied That part " has been earned
against the shipper he has done nothing 70 change
the contract, but even as against him II he has inter
Tupted the voyage and certainly against every
who wilfully or carelcssly stops her progress,
EXAMPLES
Here the decisions European and American, have n
uniformity scarcely to be met with in any other depart
mont Of the law. The ship Cambodia sailed under
charter from Bombay, in ballast, for Howland's
Island intending to call at port in New Zea
land for water, ana having got on shore on
the coast Of New Zealand damaged that she
obliged TO abandon her voyage Lord O. J. Cockburn
(aerward ono Of tho arbtators at Geneva held that
tho ship had sailed with the sole object Of going
Howands Island to the freight from thence 10 the
United Kingdom, the interest IN the freight bad com
mcnced although not pound or the cargo was on
board when she struck. Barber Fleming Law
Reports, 90 Queens 5 Bench Cases True, this
contract OF marine insurance. created by parties who
rouid make their terms, and, therefore ought
10 look Tor precedents arising outside OF the law Of
contracts altogether Taken then the case of general
average arising from the jcttison Of goods for the