Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/130/527/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 12:22:45+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 130 › Butler v. Boston & Savannah Steamship Co.
The City of Norwich, 118 U. S. 468, affirmed as to insurance money.
"Second. Except as relieved or affected by the Limited Liability Act of 1851, Rev.Stat. §§ 4283-4285, and the rules of the United States Supreme Court thereunder, the libellant, ship owner, is liable for all loss and damage caused by the stranding of said steamship City of Columbus."
"1. Except as relieved or affected by the Limited Liability Act of 1851, Rev.Stat. §§ 4283-4285, and the rules of the United States Supreme Court thereunder, the respondent, ship owner, is liable for all loss and damage caused by the stranding of said steamship City of Columbus."
Rev.Stat. § 4283. The word "loss" in the statute of 1851 is printed "lost" in the Revised Statutes, evidently by mistake. This is the fundamental section of the law. On this section the whole provision turns, and nothing can be more general or broad than its terms. The "liability . . . shall in no case exceed," etc. It is the liability not only for loss of goods, but for any injury by collision or for any act, matter, loss, damage, or forfeiture whatever done or incurred.
Various attempts have been made to narrow the objects of the statute, but without avail. It was first contended that it did not apply to collisions. This pretense was disallowed by the decision in Norwich Co. v. Wright, 13 Wall. 104. Next it was insisted that it did not extend to cases of loss by fire. This point was overruled in the case of Providence & New York Steamship Co. v. Hill Mfg. Co., 109 U. S. 578. Now it is contended that it does not extend to personal injuries as well as to injuries to property. If this position can be maintained, the value of the act as an encouragement to engage in the shipping business will be very essentially impaired. The carriage of passengers in connection with merchandise is so common on the great highway between the old and new continents at the present day that a law of limited liability, which should protect ship owners in regard to injuries to goods and not in regard to injuries to passengers would be of very little service in cases which would call for its application.
This conclusion is decisive of the controversy arising on the libel of the appellants, for if the law applies to the case of personal injuries, it was then the duty of the libelants to have appeared in the cause of limited liability instituted by the owners of the vessel and to have contested there the question whether in the particular case the owners were or were not entitled to the benefit of the law. Had the action of the appellants been first commenced, it would have been suspended by the institution of the limited liability proceedings, and the very object of those proceedings was not only to stop the prosecution of actions already commenced, but to prevent other suits from being brought. Allegations that the owners themselves were in fault cannot affect the jurisdiction of the court to entertain a cause of limited liability, for that is one of the principal issues to be tried in such a cause. The beneficent object of the law in enabling the ship owner to bring all parties into concourse who have claims arising out of the disaster or loss, and thus to prevent a multiplicity of actions and to adjust the liability to the value of the ship and freight, has been commented on in several cases that have come before this Court, notably in the cases of Norwich Company v. Wright, 13 Wall. 104, and Providence & New York Steamship Co. v. Hill Mfg. Co., 109 U. S. 578. It is unnecessary to enter again upon the discussion here.
P. 109 U. S. 593.
restored that article to our maritime Code. We cannot doubt its power to do this. As the Constitution extends the judicial power of the United States to "all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction," and as this jurisdiction is held to be exclusive, the power of legislation on the same subject must necessarily be in the national legislature, and not in the state legislatures. It is true, we have held that the boundaries and limits of the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction are matters of judicial cognizance, and cannot be affected or controlled by legislation, whether state or national. Chief Justice Taney, in The St. Lawrence, 1 Black 522, 66 U. S. 526-527; The Lottawanna, 21 Wall. 558, 88 U. S. 575-576. But within these boundaries and limits, the law itself is that which has always been received as maritime law in this country, with such amendments and modifications as Congress may from time to time have adopted.
The question relating to the insurance money received for the loss of the ship and freight has already been settled by our decision in the case of The City of Norwich, 118 U. S. 468, and requires no further discussion here. This case is governed by that so far as the claim to the insurance money is concerned.

References: v. 
 § 4283
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.