Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/74/624.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 01:17:09+00:00

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[74 U.S. 624, 625] ERROR to the Supreme Court of Alabama.
In this state of Federal law, fundamental and statutory, the State of Alabama, by enactments, entitled 'PROCEEDINGS IN ADMIRALTY,'1 provided that there should be a lien on all vessels for work and materials done or furnished, and for all debts contracted by the master, owner or consignee, [74 U.S. 624, 626] and for the wages of the officers, crew, &c., in preference to other debts due from the owners thereof. By the terms of the code, the lien is to be asserted by filing a complaint in any county in which the vessel may be found, stating the amount and nature of the claim, and praying a seizure of the vessel. Thereupon the clerk is to issue a writ commanding the sheriff to seize the vessel, her tackle, apparel and furniture. At any time before judgment, the master, owner or other persons may release the vessel by entering into bond in double the amount of the claim, stipulating to pay the amount of the judgment. Any number of persons may unite in the same complaint, and if more than one complaint be filed the court must consolidate them, and render but one judgment against the vessel, which is to be considered several as to each complainant. If a stipulation be entered into, the stipulators are defendants. If none, the court must render a judgment ex parte condemning the boat, tackle, &c., to be sold in satisfaction of the claim; and the affidavit of complainant is made presumptive evidence of the justice of the demand.
By the act of 7th October, 1864, 'to amend the admiralty laws of the State,' these provisions are extended to the contract of affreightment.
Under this statute, Boone & Co. filed their libel, March 30, 1866, in the City Court of Mobile, claiming $5800 for the loss of certain bales of cotton, shipped to them from Vienna, in the State of Alabama, to Mobile, in the same State, and prayed 'process in admiralty' for the seizure of the steamboat Belfast.
In the same court a libel was also filed by J. & S. Steers, claiming compensation for other bales, shipped by them from Columbus, Mississippi, to Mobile, in Alabama, already mentioned. And a libel by Watson & Co. claiming it for cotton shipped by them, from and to the same points. [74 U.S. 624, 627] All the navigation which was the subject of the case, was upon the Tombigbee River, navigable water of the United States.
Under these several libels, the sheriff, by virtue of writs of seizure, took the steamer into possession, and posted his monitions, and the causes, under the statute, were consolidated and heard together. The answer, applicable to the three cases alike, set forth that the steamer was duly enrolled and licensed, in pursuance of laws of the United States, and that on the 15th January, 1866, she was regularly cleared at Mobile, Alabama, for Columbus, Mississippi, and that on her downward trip the cotton claimed was lost, and therefore, that the City Court had no jurisdiction.
A decree was rendered on 28th July, for the three libellants. Appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of Alabama, where one assignment of errors was: 'That the City Court erred in overruling the protest to the jurisdiction.' The decree of the City Court was, however, affirmed by the Supreme Court; and deciding, as that court thus did, in favor of the validity of a statute of a State drawn in question on the ground of its being repugnant to the laws of the United States, the case was brought here under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act.
Whether the contract, made as it was, for the transportation of goods from one place to another, both in the same State, and without the goods being carried in transitu, into or through any other State or foreign dominion, was a contract which could be enforced by a proceeding in admiralty in the Federal courts alone?- [74 U.S. 624, 628] If the State court had no jurisdiction in that case, a fortiori, it could have none in the two others.
It is matter of universal knowledge, that the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal courts has undergone several changes since the establishment of this government, and we need not discuss at all the familiar cases of The Thomas Jefferson,2 Waring v. Clarke,3 The Lexington, 4 The Genesee Chief,5 and some others of a past day. Whether they be all reconcilable or not, is unimportant now. The only thing important to be inquired into by us now, is the judgment of this court, as settled in its most recent decisions, determining the character and limit of the admiralty jurisdiction. And we have here two leading cases on this point. In The Moses Taylor,6 the action was on a contract for personal transportation. The court held that this was a maritime contract; that it was not distinguishable from a contract for the transportation of freight, and that the breach of either is the appropriate subject of admiralty jurisdiction.
And, further, that the clause of the Judiciary Act, which saves to suitors a common law remedy, does not save a proceeding in rem, as used in the admiralty courts. Such a proceeding not being a remedy afforded by the common law.
In The Hine v. Trevor,7 the action wad for a collision occurring on the Mississippi, near St. Louis. The record 'raised distinctly the question how far the jurisdiction in admiralty was exclusive, and to what extent the State courts could exercise a concurrent jurisdiction,' and, owing to the importance of the principles involved, the 'case was held under advisement for some time, in order that every consideration which could influence the result might be deliberately weighed.' The court affirm the judgment given in The Moses Taylor, and reassert the doctrine declared in the case of The Genesee Chief, that the 'principles of admiralty jurisdiction, [74 U.S. 624, 629] as conferred on the Federal courts by the Constitution, extend wherever ships float, and navigation successfully aids commerce, whether internal or external.' It further declares that the grant of this power under the act of 1789, is exclusive not only of all other Federal courts, but of all other State courts, and, therefore, State statutes which confer upon State courts a remedy for marine torts and marine contracts, by proceeding strictly in rem, are void.
The provisions of the Alabama code are those of the acts quoted in the above recent cases, and are subject to the same condemnation. Judgment, therefore, must be reversed.
To show that the case at bar is a 'civil cause of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,' shows nothing to the purpose, if it also appear that there was a common law remedy at the option of the suitors, and that they elected that remedy. They are the very persons who under the statute had the right to do so.
It is not necessary to make a case one at common law, that the suit be begun by the service of process, or by actually bringing into court, in any other way, the party whose rights are to be affected by the proceeding. A defendant may be brought into court as well by seizing his property, and bringing it into court, under circumstances giving him plain and reasonable notice of the cause of its seizure. If the statute makes provision for his personal appearance, and a day is given to him in court, with the right of trial by jury, then it is as much a common law case as if it had begun by a [74 U.S. 624, 631] capias ad respondendum, instead of a seizure of his property. And, on the other hand, though the suit be begun by a capias, and proceeded in throughout according to the most exact forms of a common law suit in all things but one, to wit, the trial by jury, if that be denied, it is no true case at common law. It is this distinctive quality alone which the Constitution guarantees and preserves from all innovation. And there is no instance in this court in which, where the subject-matter was the adjudication of purely legal rights, and the right of the trial by jury has been 'preserved,' in which the case has been treated as other than a common law case, whether a concurrent remedy existed, either in admiralty or in equity, or not, and whatever may have been the mere form of the proceedings.
The Hine v. Trevor is no exception to this rule. There, as the report shows, there was, and could be, no jury trial. The Iowa statute, on which that case rested, made no provision to protect the owner of the vessel, and afforded him no opportunity, by his personal appearance, of converting the proceeding into a common law trial by jury. The proceeding was begun, continued, and ended, and could only be so, as a civil law proceeding in rem.
Pursuant to those statutory rules and regulations of the State, the libel in this case was filed in the City Court of Mobile, and the libellants alleged that they, on the twenty-third of January, 1866, shipped on board the steamboat Belfast, then lying at Vienna in that State, one hundred bales of cotton, to be transported to Mobile, in the same State, and there to be delivered to certain consignees, they paying freight therefor at the rate of five dollars per bale, the dangers of the river excepted; that on the way down the river, below Vienna, twenty-nine bales of the cotton were lost, not by the dangers of the river, and were never delivered to the consignees, whereby the libellants suffered loss to the amount of five thousand eight hundred dollars. Introductory allegations of the libel, also, are the same as in a libel in rem in the District Courts of the United States; and in conclusion, the 'libellants pray process in admiralty' against the steamer, 'her tackle, apparel, and furniture,' and that the same may be condemned to satisfy their damages and costs. Process was accordingly issued, commanding the sheriff to seize and take the steamer, &c., into his possession, and to hold the same until released by due course of law. Respondents appeared as claimants, and alleged that they were the owners of the steamer, and they admitted that the cotton was shipped on board at the time and place, and on the terms and for the purpose alleged in the libel; but they excepted to the jurisdiction of the court, and alleged that the steamer, at the time the cotton was shipped, was duly enrolled and licensed under the laws of the United States; that she was then and there regularly engaged in commerce and navigation between the city of Columbus, in the State of Mississippi, and the city of Mobile, in [74 U.S. 624, 633] the State of Alabama, and that the cotton described in the libel was lost in her trip down the river from the former city to her port of destination. Defence of the respondents upon the merits was, that the steamer and cargo were captured by a band of robbers in the trip down the river, within the ebb and flow of the tide, and within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, and without any negligence or fault on the part of the officers and crew of the steamer. They also set up the defence, that it was agreed between the master and the shippers that the vessel should not be liable for the loss of the cotton, if it was captured by armed men during the voyage, without any negligence or fault on the part of the carrier. Libellants excepted to that part of the answer denying the jurisdiction of the cort, as insufficient and invalid; and they also excepted to the defence, as pleaded, that the steamer was robbed of the cotton, as no bar to a recovery in the case, and the court sustained the views of the libellants in both purticulars, and the respondents excepted to the respective rulings of the court.
Two other consignments of cotton were also on board the steamer at the time the alleged robbery occurred. Ninety bales were shipped by J. H. Steers & Company, at Columbus; and one hundred bales were shipped by John Watson & Company, at the same place. Both shipments were to be transported to the port of Mobile, and there to be delivered to certain consignees under a similar contract of affreightment as that alleged in the first case, except as to the price to be paid for the transportation. Steers & Company lost thirty-four bales of their shipment, and Watson & Company lost thirty bales, as alleged by the respective parties. Libels in the same form were also filed by those parties about the same time, in the same court, and the owners of the steamer appeared in each case as claimants, and pleaded the same defences in the three cases.
Evidence was introduced by the respective libellants, proving that the entire cotton lost, and not delivered, was of the value of four thousand dollars. They also introduced [74 U.S. 624, 634] the several bills of lading, and the respondents admitted the shipments as alleged in the respective libels. On the other hand, the libellants admitted that the steamer was robbed. as alleged in the answer, and without any neglect or fault of the owners of the steamer, or those in charge of her navigation.
Agreement of the parties, as stated in the bill of exceptions, was that the three cases should be tried together, and they were all submitted at the same time and upon the same issues. Finding of the court was that the whole loss in the three cases was four thousand dollars, and of that sum the decree of the court allowed one thousand dollars to the libellants in the first case, fourteen hundred dollars to the libellants in the second case, and sixteen hundred dollars to the libellants in the third case, with costs to the prevailing party.
Exceptions were seasonably tendered by the respondents to the rulings and decision of the court, and the exceptions were duly allowed by the court. Appeals were then taken by the respondents to the Supreme Court of the State, where the objections to the jurisdiction of the court were renewed in the formal assignment of errors. The parties were heard, but the court overruled the objections to the jurisdiction of the court, and affirmed the respective decrees rendered in the subordinate court. Writs of error were then sued out under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act, and the respective causes were removed into this court.
Jurisdiction of this court to re-examine the questions presented in the pleadings may be assumed as existing without discussion, as it is conceded that the questions are the same as were raised and decided in the State courts, and it is not controverted that the questions are such as may be re-examined here under the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary Act.
2. They also contend, if their first proposition is not sustained, that inasmuch as the three cases were heard together, under an agreement that they should be tried upon the same issues, and that the libel filed by W. C. Boon & Company, as stated in the bill of exceptions, was selected as the case to be tried in the court where the suits were commenced, the rights of the parties in the other two cases must abide the decision of this court in that case.
Assuming that to be so, then they contend that the State court had jurisdiction in the first case, because the contract of affreightment was for the transportation of goods and merchandise between ports and places in the same State. Impliedly, the argument admits that the rule is otherwise where the contract is for the transportation of goods and merchandise between ports and places in different States; but the proposition is, that where the contract is between citizens of the same State, for the transportation of goods and merchandise from one port to another in the same State, the case is not one within the jurisdiction of the admiralty courts of the United States, unless it becomes necessary, in the course of the voyage, to carry the goods or merchandise into or through some other State or foreign domision.
Obviously the questions presented are questions of very great importance, as affecting the construction of the Federal Constitution, and the rights and remedies of the citizens [74 U.S. 624, 636] engaged in an important and lucrative branch of commerce and navigation.
Best guides as to the extent of the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal courts, are the Constitution of the United States, the laws of Congress, and the decisions of this court.
Two of the contracts of affreightment in these cases, were for the transportation of cotton between ports and places in different States; but as the contract alleged in the libel filed in the first case, was for the transportation of cotton from one port to another, in the same State, it becomes necessary to determine, irrespective of the questions presented in the other cases, whether such a contract is cognizable in the admiralty courts of the United States, because, if not, the libellants, in any view of the case, must prevail, as there would be, in that state of the case, no jurisdiction in this court to re-examine the decision of the State court in that case.
Much controversy has existed as to the true extent of the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the Federal courts, but great aid will be derived in the solution of this question by an examination of the decisions of this court at different periods since the judicial system of the United States was organized. [74 U.S. 624, 637] Principal subjects of admiralty jurisdiction are maritime contracts and maritime torts, including captures jure belli, and seizures on water for municipal and revenue forfeitures.
(2.) Torts or injuries committed on navigable waters, of a civil nature, are also cognizable in the admiralty courts.
Such jurisdiction, whether of torts or of contracts, was, and still is, restricted in the parent country to tide-waters, as they have no large fresh-water lakes or fresh-water rivers which are navigable. Waters where the tide did not ebb and flow, were regarded in that country as not within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and such was the decision of this court in the case of The Jefferson,16 and the rule established in that case was followed for more than a quarter of a century.
Application of that rule was made by the Federal courts [74 U.S. 624, 638] in collision cases arising upon the Hudson, the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Merrimac, the Alabama, and many other rivers navigable only between ports and places in one State.
Exclusive original cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, was conferred upon the District Courts by the ninth section of the Judiciary Act, including all seizures under the laws of impost, navigation, or trade of the United States, where the seizures are made on waters which are navigable from the sea by vessels of ten or more tons burden, within their respective districts as well as upon the high seas.
Remedies for marine torts, it is conceded, may be sought in the admiralty courts under that provision, although committed within the body of a county, but it is denied that redress can be obtained in the admiralty for the breach of a contract of affreightment in a case where the port of shipment and the port of destination are in the same State.
When the case of The Lexington was decided, it was still supposed that the admiralty jurisdiction was limited to waters affected by the ebb and flow of the tide, but the case is a decisive authority to show that the jurisdiction of the admiralty, in matters of contract, was understood to be coextensive with the jurisdiction in cases of marine torts. [74 U.S. 624, 639] Subject-matter of the suit in the case of Waring et al. v. Clarke, was that of a collision, and the subject-matter in the case of The Lexington was a loss of specie in transitu, under a contract of affreightment. Viewed in any light, those two cases settle the question that where the voyage and transportation are over tide-waters, the jurisdiction of the admiralty is the same in matters in maritime contracts as in marine torts.
Such was the state of the law upon the subject, as decided by this court, when the case of The Genesee Chief19 was brought here for re- examination; and in that case this court held that the jurisdiction in admiralty depended, not upon the ebb and flow of the tide, but upon the navigable character of the water; that if the water was navigable, it was deemed to be public, and if public, that it was regarded as within the legitimate scope of the admiralty jurisdiction conferred by the Constitution.
Prior to that decision, the Western lakes and navigable rivers of the United States, above tide-waters, were not supposed to be waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the Federal courts. Strange as that proposition may now appear to one familiar with the provision contained in the ninth section of the Judiciary Act, it is nevertheless true that the rule restricting admiralty jurisdiction to tide-waters had prevailed from the organization of the judicial system to that date, but the effect of that decision was to dispel that error and place the admiralty jurisdiction upon its true constitutional and legal basis, as defined in the Constitution of the United States and the laws of Congress.
Navigable rivers, which empty into the sea, or into the bays and gulfs which form a part of the sea, are but arms of the sea, and are as much within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States as the sea itself.
No such restrictions are contained in the ninth section of the Judiciary Act, and consequently those remarks, as applied to a case falling within that provision, must be regarded as incorrect.
Such a rule, if applied to the commerce and navigation of the Atlantic coast, would produce incalculable mischief, as the vessels in many cases, even in voyages from one port in a State to another port in the same State, are obliged, in the course of the voyage, to go outside of any particular State, and it would not be difficult to give examples where more than half the voyage is necessarily upon the high seas. Unless the admiralty has jurisdiction, in such a case, to enforce the maritime lien, in case of a collision or jettison, it is difficult to see to what forum the injured party can resort for redress. Piracy, it is said, is justiciable everywhere, but it cannot be admitted that maritime torts are justiciable nowhere.
Unable to deny that the admiralty has jurisdiction over marine torts, though the voyage is between ports and places in the same State, the advocates of the more restricted jurisdiction [74 U.S. 624, 642] over maritime contracts set up a distinction, and contend that the admiralty jurisdiction over such contracts is limited by the power granted to Congress to regulate commerce. Reference may be made to the case of Maguire v. Card,27 as one where that distinction was adopted; but the decisive answer to that case, and the one preceding it in the same volume, will be found in the later cases already referred to, and in the case of The Mary Washington,28 where the opinion was given by the present Chief Justice. All three of the cases, therefore, as well the case of W. C. Boon & Company as the other two, are cases within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the Federal courts.
II. Suppose that to be so, then, it is contended by the libellants, in the second place, that all three of the original actions were well brought in the State court as a court of concurrent jurisdiction with the District Courts of the United States in admiralty, and that the particular remedy, given by the statute of the State, and adopted in these cases, is within the true intent and meaning of the saving clause in the ninth section of the Judiciary Act.
Wherever a maritime lien arises the injured party may pursue his remedy, whether for a breach of a maritime contract or for a marine tort, by a suit in rem, or by a suit in personam, at his election. Attention will be called to three classes of cases only as examples to illustrate that proposition; but many more might be given to the same effect.
None of these principles are controverted, but the libellants contend that the State courts have concurrent jurisdiction to afford the parties the same remedies in all such cases. No warrant for that proposition, however, is found in the ninth section of the Judiciary Act, nor in any other part of that fundamental regulation of our judicial system. On the contrary, the exclusive original cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction is, by the very terms of that section, conferred upon the District Courts of the United States, 'saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common law remedy where the common law is competent to give it.' Nothing is said about a concurrent jurisdiction in a State court or in any other court, and it is quite clear that in all cases where the parties are citizens of different States, the injured party may pursue the common law remedy here [74 U.S. 624, 644] described and saved, in the Circuit Court of the district as well as in the State courts.
State legislatures have no authority to create a maritime lien, nor can they confer any jurisdiction upon a State court to enforce such a lien by a suit or proceeding in rem, as practised in the admiralty courts. Observe the language of the saving clause under consideration. It is to suitors, and not to the State courts, nor to the Circuit Courts of the United States. Examined carefully it is evident that Congress intended by that provision to allow the party to seek redress in the admiralty if he saw fit to do so, but not to make it compulsory in any case where the common law is competent to give him a remedy. Properly construed, a party under that provision may proceed in rem in the admiralty, or he may bring a suit in personam in the same jurisdiction, or he may elect not to go into admiralty at all, and may resort to his common law remedy in the State courts or in the Circuit Court of the United States, if he can make proper parties to give that court jurisdiction of his case.
Undoubtedly most common law remedies in cases of contract and tort, as given in common law courts, and suits in personam in the admiralty courts, bear a strong resemblance to each other, and it is not, perhaps, inaccurate to regard the two jurisdictions in that behalf as concurrent, but there is no form of action at common law which, when compared with the proceeding in rem in the admiralty, can be regarded as a concurrent remedy. [74 U.S. 624, 645] Consignees or shippers may proceed in the admiralty in rem against the vessel to enforce their maritime lien, or they may waive that lien and still proceed in the admiralty in personam against the owners of the vessel to recover damages for the non-fulfilment of the contract, or they may elect to bring a common action against the owners to recover damages, as in other cases for the breach of a contract to be executed on land.
Proceedings in a suit at common law on a contract of affreightment are precisely the same as in suits on contracts not regarded as maritime, wholly irrespective of the fact that the injured party might have sought redress in the admiralty. When properly brought, the suit is against the owners of the vessel, and in States where there are attachment laws the plaintiff may attach any property not exempted from execution, belonging to the defendants.
Liability of the owners of the vessel under the contract being the foundation of the suit, nothing can finally be held under the attachment except the interest of the owners in the vessel, because the vessel is held under the attachment as the property of the defendants, and not as the offending thing, as in the case of a proceeding in rem to enforce a maritime lien. Attachment in such suits may be of the property of non- residents or of defendants absent from the State, as in suits on contracts not maritime, and the same rules apply in respect to the service of process and notice to the defendants.
Applying these rules to the cases before the court, it is obvious that the jurisdiction exercised by the State court was of the precise character which is exclusive in the District Courts of the United States sitting in admiralty. Authority does not exist in the State courts to hear and determine a suit in rem in admiralty to enforce a maritime lien.
[ Footnote 1 ] Code, 2692, 2708.
[ Footnote 2 ] 10 Wheaton, 428.
[ Footnote 3 ] 5 Howard, 441.
[ Footnote 4 ] 6 Id. 390.
[ Footnote 5 ] 12 Id. 457.
[ Footnote 6 ] 4 Wallace, 424.
[ Footnote 7 ] Ib. 556.
[ Footnote 8 ] Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheaton, 204.
[ Footnote 9 ] 3 Peters, 446-7.
[ Footnote 10 ] Revised Code, 3127, 3142.
[ Footnote 11 ] 1 Stat. at Large, 77.
[ Footnote 12 ] Waring et al. v. Clarke, 5 Howard, 454.
[ Footnote 13 ] Bags of Linseed, 1 Black, 108.
[ Footnote 14 ] 1 Conklin's Admiralty, 19.
[ Footnote 15 ] The Commerce, 1 Black, 579; 2 Story on the Constitution (3d ed .), 1666-1669.
[ Footnote 16 ] 10 Wheaton, 428.
[ Footnote 17 ] Waring et al. v. Clarke, 5 Howard, 549.
[ Footnote 18 ] The Lexington, 6 Howard, 390; The Vengeance, 3 Dallas, 297; The Betsey, 4 Cranch, 443; The Samuel, 1 Wheaton, 9; The Octavia, Ib. 20.
[ Footnote 19 ] 12 Howard, 457.
[ Footnote 20 ] The Magnolia, 20 Howard, 296; 5 Stat. at Large, 516.
[ Footnote 21 ] 1 Black, 578.
[ Footnote 22 ] 2 Story on the Constitution, 1669.
[ Footnote 23 ] The Genesee Chief, 12 Howard, 452.
[ Footnote 24 ] The St. Lawrence, 1 Black, 526.
[ Footnote 25 ] 21 Howard, 245.
[ Footnote 26 ] The Hine v. Trevor, 4 Wallace, 555.
[ Footnote 27 ] 21 Howard, 249.
[ Footnote 29 ] The Bird of Paradise, 5 Wallace, 545; The Eddy, Ib. 481; Bags of Linseed, 1 Black, 112 Maude & Pollock on Shipping, 254.
[ Footnote 30 ] Sturgis v. Boyer et al., 24 Howard, 117; Chamberlain v. Ward, 21 Id. 553.
[ Footnote 31 ] The St. Lawrence, 1 Black, 529; Manro v. Almeida, 10 Wheaton, 473; The Reinder, 2 Wallace, 384; The General Smith, 4 Wheaton, 438.
[ Footnote 32 ] The Moses Taylor, 4 Wallace, 411.
[ Footnote 33 ] The General Smith, 4 Wheaton, 438; The St. Lawrence, 1 Black, 529.
[ Footnote 34 ] Ferry Company v. Beers, 20 Howard, 402.

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