Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/166/110
Timestamp: 2013-12-20 17:18:43
Document Index: 193975117

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4136', '§ 2497', '§ 4214', '§ 4216', '§ 36', '§ 4', '§ 29', '§ 970', '§ 207', '§ 829']

166 U.S. 110 (17 S.Ct. 510, 41 L.Ed. 937)
Decided: March 8, 1897
[HTML] This was a libel by Frederick W. Vanderbilt to recover possession of the steam yacht Conqueror, of which he was the owner, and which was alleged to be illegally detained by J. Sloat Fassett, then collector of customs for the district of New York.
Meanwhile, on September 1st, Mr. Vanderbilt filed his present libel for possession of the yacht, alleging his citizenship; the fact that the vessel was designed, intended, and constructed as a pleasure yacht only; its purchase by the libelant; as well as other facts hereinbefore set forth,and prayed for process against the vessel, and for a decree awarding him possession, and condemning Fassett in damages and costs. Process having been issued against the yacht, the execution thereof by the marshal was restricted by the customs officials, and it was not until an alias and pluries process had been issued that the marshal succeeded in obtaining exclusive and undisputed control of her. Fassett then applied to this court for a writ of prohibition, which was denied. In re Fassett, 142 U. S. 479, 12 Sup. Ct. 295.
2. Was the Conqueror dutiable under the tariff act of October 1, 1890 (
26 Stat. 567)? This act requires duties to be levied upon all 'articles' imported from foreign countries and mentioned in schedules therein contained, none of which schedules mention ships or vessels eo nomine. An abstract furnished us of the corresponding clauses in all the principal tariff acts from 1789 to the present date shows that duties are laid either upon 'articles,' as in the present act, or upon 'goods, wares and merchandise,'words which have a similar meaning. Indeed, the words 'articles' and 'goods, wares and merchandise' seem to be used indiscriminately, and without any apparent purpose of distinguishing between them. While a vessel is an article of personal property, and may be termed 'goods, wares and merchandise,' as distinguished from real estate, it is not within either class, as the words are ordinarily used. In all this class of cases, the meaning of the words as used in the particular statute must be gathered from the context and from the evident purpose of the act. Thus, in Iron Co. v. Claytor, L. R. 4 Q. B. 209, it was held that a ship was not an 'article,' within the meaning of an act forbidding the employment of children to labor in the manufacture of articles or parts of articles, but that an iron plate was an article of metal, even though used in shipbuilding, and the shaping of the plate was part of the manufacture.
The fact that in a particular case, such as that of the Geneva (
20 Stat. 473), congress may have seen fit to impose duties as a condition to the granting of an American registry to a foreign-built steamnboat, is fully met by a very large number of similar cases in which no such requirement is made. In the following, taken from a single volume (28 Stat.), it appears that foreign-built vessels were admitted to registry or nationalized without any such requirement: The Oneida, p. 43; the Goldsworthy, p. 216; the Astoria, p. 217; the Oceano, p. 219; the S. Oteri, p. 277; the Skudesnaes, p. 508; the Claribel and Athos, p. 625; the Empress, p. 626; the Linda and Archer, p. 626; the James H. Hamlen, p. 643. Doubtless an examination would reveal an equally large number in other volumes. In fact, the case of the Geneva seems to have been wholly exceptional. As bearing upon this, by the act of December 23, 1852 (
10 Stat. 149), reproduced in Rev. St. § 4136, the secretary of the treasury is authorized to 'issue a register or enrollment for any vessel built in a foreign country, whenever such vessel shall be wrecked in the United States, and shall be purchased and reparied by a citizen of the United States, if it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the secretary that the repairs put upon such vessel are equal to three-fourths of the cost of the vessel when so repaired.'
The privilege, however, of owning foreign vessels, is usually of comparatively little value, since, in order to carry on a foreign trade, the coasting trade, or the fisheries, they must be entitled either to registry or to enrollment and license,a privilege, as above stated, not granted to foreign-built vessels, though owned by American citizens, Rev. St. §§ 2497, 4131, 4311; The Merritt, 17 Wall. 582.
A special provision is made for yachts by Rev. St. § 4214, as amended by the act of March 3, 1883 (
22 Stat. 566), under which 'the secretary of the treasury may cause yachts used and employed exclusively as pleasure vessels, or designed as models of naval architecture, * * * to be licensed on terms which will authorize them to proceed from port to port of the United States, and by sea to foreign ports, without entering or clearing at the custom house.' By section 4216, 'yachts, belonging to a regularly organized yacht club of any foreign nation which shall extend like privileges to the yachts of the United States, shall have the privilege of entering or leaving any port of the United States without entering or clearing at the custom house thereof, or paying tonnage tax.' It was probably under this section, and for the purpose of exempting her from payment of a tonnage tax, that Mr. Vanderbilt had the Conquerer enrolled as a member of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club, although it may be open to question whether this section was not intended as a mere reciprocity of courtesy, or has any application to foreign-built yachts belonging to American citizens. Certainly no such question can arise since the passage of the act of January 25, 1897 (not yet officially published), by the first section of which Rev. St. § 4216, is re-enacted, with a proviso 'that the privileges of this section shall not extend to any yacht built outside of the United States, and owned, chartered or used by a citizen of the United States, unless such ownership or charter was acquired prior to the passage of this act.' By the second section of the same act it is further provided that the previous act of June 19, 1886, exempting yachts from tonnage taxes, is repealed, 'so far as the same exempts any yacht built outside of the United States, and owned, chartered or used by a citizen of the United States.'
But, if it were conceded that the statute be somewhat ambiguous, we are authorized to refer to the original statutes from which the section was taken, and to ascertain from their language and context to what class of cases the provision was intended to apply. U. S. v. Bowen, 100 U. S. 508; Myer v. Car Co., 102 U. S. 1, 11; U. S. v. Lacher, 134 U. S. 624, 10 Sup. Ct. 625. The protection of the collector by a certificate of probable cause appears first in the act of July 31, 1789, § 36 (
1 Stat. 47), to regulate the collection of duties upon the tonnage of ships, and upon goods, wares, and merchandise imported. The act is not a tariff act imposing duties and tonnage, but is one for the administration of the tariff laws and the collection of duties. By this act the country was divided into collection districts, ports of entry and delivery established, the duties of the collector and other customs officers defined, the obligations of vessels arriving with cargoes laid down, and the method of collecting such duties prescribed, with certain penalties for the nonperformance of its provisions. By section 36 'all penalties accruing by any breach of this act shall be sued for and recovered with costs of suit, in the name of the United States, * * * by the collector of the district, * * * and such collector shall be, and hereby is, authorized and directed to sue for and prosecute the same to effect.' The section then provides for the manner of prosecuting for a forfeiture, how claim shall be made for the property seized, and under what circumstances it shall be delivered to the claimant. The section terminates with a provision for a certificate of probable cause if judgment shall be given for the claimant or claimants. Through this entire section the word claimant' is obviously used in its technical sense, to stand for the owner of the property seized for a penalty or forfeiture, under previous sections of the act. Indeed, the act is so clear in this particular that scarcely any room is left for any other construction. This act was repealed by the act of August 4, 1790 (
1 Stat. 145), to provide more effecually for the collection of the duties on goods imported and upon tonnage. The later act is practically a re-enactment of the former, with many amendments and enlargements of its scope, and, in section 67, section 36 of the prior act is repeated, with the same provision for a certificate of probable cause. The act of 1790, however, was repealed March 7, 1799 (
1 Stat. 627), by a further act 'to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage,' wherein the whole subject was again reconsidered, and a new act, still further amending and enlarging the prior ones, adopted. Section 89 of this act again repeated the provision for a certificate of probable cause. These acts limited the granting of such certificates to seizures made for fines or forfeitures under the provisions of the particular act. Subsequently, however, other acts were passed authorizing seizures of vessels and goods for other offenses, but in none of these acts was protection given to the officer making the seizure with probable cause. 1 Stat. 289, § 4; 1 Stat. 63, § 29; 1 Stat. 381, c. 50; 2 Stat. 379, c. 29. To extend to the collector the protection of a certificate of probable cause, where forfeitures were incurred under these acts, a short act was passed on February 24, 1807 (
2 Stat. 422), permitting the court to grant such certificate wherever a seizure was made by any collector or other officer under any act of congress authorizing such seizure. This act was substantially re-enacted in Rev. St. § 970.
That the loss of profits or of the use of a vessel pending repairs, or other detention, arising from a collision or other maritime tort, and commonly spoken of as 'demurrage,' is a proper element of damage, is too well settled both in England and America to be open to question. It is equally well settled, however, that demurrage will only be allowed when profits have actually been, or may be reasonably supposed to have been, lost, and the amount of such profits is proven with reasonable certainty. In one of the earliest English cases upon this subject (The Clarence, 3 W. Rob. Adm. 283), it was said by Dr. Lushington that 'in order to entitle a party to be indemnified for what is termed in this court a 'consequential loss,' being for the detention of his vessel, two things are absolutely necessary,actual loss, and reasonable proof of the amount. * * * It does not follow, as a matter of necessity, that anything is due for the detention of a vessel while under repair. Under some circumstances, undoubtedly, such a consequence will follow, as, for example, where a fishing voyage is lost, or where the vessel would have been beneficially employed.' To same effect are The Black Prince, Lush. 568; The City of Peking, 15 App. Cas. 438; The Argentino, 14 App. Cas. 519.
In The R. L. Maybey, 4 Blatchf. 439, Fed. Cas. No. 11,871, it was said by Mr. Justice Nelson, upon the subject of damages, that 'a good deal of the testimony was general, and turned upon mere opinion as to the probability of employment in the towing business, and the amount of the earnings, if employed. This kind of proof is too speculative and contingent to be the foundation of any rule of damages. It is, at best, but conjecture.' On appeal to this court the decree was affirmed (Sturgis v. Clough, 1 Wall. 269); Mr. Justice Grier observing that 'the charge for demurrage allowed by him the commissioner was not justified by the evidence, although there was testimony to support it, such as can always be obtained when friendly experts are called to give opinions. Besides, the libelant withheld the best evidence of the profits made by his boat, which would be found in his own books, showing the receipts and expenditures before the collision.' The testimony is not set forth in the report of the case, but on referring to the original record we find that it was much stronger in favor of an allowance of demurrage than the testimony in this case. Five witnesses were sworn by the libelant, who testified that there was a demand in the port of New York for the services of steam tugboats, such as the injured vessel was, and that the value of such a boat was about $100 per day. Four witnesses testifying for the claimant did not deny that there was a demand for such vessels, but put the value of her services at a much lower sum. So, in the case of The Isaac Newton, 4 Blatchf. 21, Fed. Cas. No. 7,091, Mr. Justice Nelson rejected the allowance for demurrage founded simply upon the evidence of the master and the mate, as a matter of opinion, treating the allowance as conjectural and speculative.
Upon the other hand, however, in the recent case of The Emerald 1896 Prob. Div. 192, decided by the English court of appeals, the question was whether demurrage could be allowed for detention pending the repairs of a vessel (the Greta Holme) used by a body of public trustees for the purpose of dredging and raising wrecks in Liverpool harbor. The court held unanimously that demurrage could not be allowed to the board of trustees, because the vessel was not a source of profit to them. In delivering the opinion, Lord Esher observed: 'It has been pointed out, and I think quite fairly, that you cannot recover by way of damages on account of something which you call profit, but of which profit there is no evidence. * * * Then they talk of letting her go to Preston, and that the Preston people would have given 100 a week, probably. It is all imagination. * * * The dredger is not kept for the purpose of being let to any one else. * * * To say that at some indefinite and future time they could have let her if they had not wanted her, is too remote for anybody to act upon in giving them compensation for the loss of the dredger by way of damages. It seems to me that the damages were too shadowy and too remote to be the proper subject-matter of damages in the collision.' Lord Justice A. L. Smith said: 'It is to be remarked that, during all the time that the dredger was sunk and under repairs, the harbor board have not, in fact, lost one penny. * * * I agree with the report of the registrar and merchants upon this point. They say that 'the harbor or conservancy board are clearly not in the position of a trading company which is entitled to claim for loss of profit, and, although their dredging operations were no doubt delayed by the disabling of this dredger, it does not appear to us that the plaintiffs have sustained any tangible pecuniary loss." Lord Justice Rigby said: 'The board attempted to show that in some circumstances they might let this dredger, but the evidence failed to fix any definite time when the board would no longer require to use her. It seems to me that the suggested damage which might be occasioned to the Mersey docks and harbor board was mere speculation.'
In the case under consideration, the only evidence of loss of profits was that of three witnesses, one of whom (Samuel Holmes, a steamboat broker) swore that the reasonable value of the use of the yacht was $3,000 per month. He gave the only instance of such a charter within his knowledge,the charter of a boat of this size about three or four years before, for about $9,000, for a winter trip to the West Indies. 'The circumstances were a little different than this, though.' What those circumstances were, what was the character of the yacht, and how long the duration of the charter, were not stated, and the illustration is of trifling value. The next witness, Hughes, a yacht broker, stated simply that the Conqueror was worth $100 per day, fortifying his testimony by no fact whatever. The last witness, Thomas Manning, also a yacht broker, stated the value of the Conqueror from August 27 to February 3 to be about $20,000 for the boat itself, without the crew; stating that there was more or less demand for those large boats, but a great difficulty in getting them. Whether the demand at that time was more or less than the average was not stated, nor are any facts given in support of his testimony. The expression is wholly indefinite and unsatisfactory.
The proper rule upon the subject is nowhere better stated than by Mr. Justice Field in delivering the opinion of the court in Head v. Hargrave, 105 U. S. 45, which is also an action for professional services as attorneys: 'It was the province of the jury to weigh the testimony of the attorneys as to the value of the services, by reference to their nature, the time occupied in their performance, and other attending circumstances, and by applying to it their own experience and knowledge of the character of such services. To direct them to find the value of the services from the testimony of the experts alone was to say to them that the issue should be determined by the opinions of the attorneys, and not by the exercise of their own judgment of the facts on which those opinions were given. The evidence of experts as to the value of professional services does not differ in principle from such evidence as to the value of labor in other departments of business, or as to the value of property. So far from laying aside their own general knowledge and ideas, the jury should have applied that knowledge and those ideas to the matters of fact in evidence, in determining the weight to be given to the opinions expressed, and it was only in that way that they could arrive at a just conclusion. While they cannot act in any case upon particular facts material to its disposition resting in their private knowledge, but should be governed by the evidence adduced, they mayand, to act intelligently, they mustjudge of the weight of the force of that evidence by their own general knowledge of the subject of inquiry. * * * Other persons besides professional men have knowledge of the value of professional services, and, while great weight should always be given to the opinions of those familiar with the subject, they are not to be blindly received, but are to be intelligently examined by the jury in the light of their own general knowledge. They should control only as they are found to be reasonable.' In short, as stated by a recent writer upon Expert Testimony, the ultimate weight to be given to the testimony of experts is a question to be determined by the jury; and there is no rule of law which requires them to surrender their judgment or to give a controlling influence to the opinions of scientific witnesses. Rog. Exp. Test. § 207; City of St. Louis v. Ranken, 95 Mo. 189, 8 S. W. 249; City of Kansas v. Butterfield, 89 Mo. 648, 1 S. W. 831; Railroad Co. v. Thul, 32 Kan. 255, 4 Pac. 352; Brehm v. Railroad Co., 34 Barb. 256, 272; Williams v. State, 50 Ark. 511, 520, 9 S. W. 5; Humphries v. Johnson, 20 Ind. 190; Goodwin v. State, 96 Ind. 550; U. S. v. McGlue, 1 Curt. 19, Fed. Cas. No. 15,679; U. S. v. Molloy, 31 Fed. 19.
5. The other items of damage going to make up the aggregate amount awarded included about $4,500 for the wages and provisions of the crew, and also for wharfage, towage, night watchman, and extra expenses in heating the vessel, all of which are claimed to be unauthorized, in view of the fact that by Rev. St. § 829, the marshal is allowed, 'for the necessary expenses of keeping boats, vessels or other property attached or libelled in admiralty, not exceeding two dollars and fifty cents a day.' While it is entirely true that the marshal is thus limited, it does not follow that the libelant may not incur a larger expense, if, in his opinion, it is necessary for the proper protection of the vessel, subject to the contingency of paying for it himself, if he be unsuccessful. It is easy to understand that an expensive yacht, like this, would require a much larger outlay than $2.50 per day to provide her with safe accommodations, and to maintain her in good condition and repair. The finding of the commissioner in this connection was 'that the collector took possession of the yacht on the 27th of August, 1891, by placing only one person on board of her; that, from this time till the end of September, the collector, through this one representative, remained on board, claiming possession of the yacht; that during all this time she lay in the stream off Stapleton, where it was necessary to have a crew on board to keep her safely, 'as no ship could be secure in any stream,' under such circumstances, without such protection; that he considered that, 'while the vessel was in that position,' that it was necessary to keep the crew to 'take care of' her, and that at no time did he employ any more men than was necessary for that purpose'; 'that on the 29th of September the collector, at the request of the libelant, ordered the vessel placed in the Erie Basin, and the marshal took partial possession, the collector having resisted, and his representative still remaining on board. The vessel having been thus removed from the stream where she had been at anchor, the captain testifies that he took steps immediately to get rid of the crew, and that they were discharged as fast as he could do so consistently while preparing the vessel for being laid up. There is nothing to contradict this testimony, and it seems to me that the captain pursued a reasonable as well as judicious course,one consistent with his duty to take proper care of the vessel. As soon as the marshal, under further process of the court, got exclusive possession of the yacht, on the 8th of October, he put only one man aboard of her to represent him, and employed the captain and four men to take care of the vessel, besides a night watchman. The marshal's possession being a legal possession, he had the right to take this course, and I do not find anything in the testimony or in the circumstances of the case to warrant the conclusion that the expenses of keeping such a vessel while in the collector's or the marshal's possession were extravagant.'