Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Moses_Taylor/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2019-08-20 09:35:19
Document Index: 445133063

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1751', '§ 436', '§ 1', '§ 437', '§ 438', '§ 2', '§ 1672']

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The Moses Taylor/Opinion of the Court
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714590The Moses Taylor — Opinion of the Court
But this claim was but an incident of the more extravagant pretensions of the same court to entire judicial, and, indeed, political independence of the State of California; pretensions subsequently abandoned by that court. [7]
The case of Warner v. The Uncle Sam, [8] places the concurrence of admiralty jurisdiction upon more temperate grounds; but its reasoning, upon examination, will be found fatal to its conclusion.
I. In admiralty, a vessel is not liable for torts, or breaches of contract in which it is in no way instrumental. And courts of admiralty do not take cognizance of torts committed on land. Nor is a contract for the transportation of passengers, made on land, to be performed partly on land and partly by water, as in this case, a 'maritime contract.' It may be urged that the substantial portion of the voyage was on the sea; for, while the admiralty jurisdiction was confined to tide-water, it was held to be sufficient if the substantial portion of the voyage was within the ebb and flow of the tide, though its commencement or termination might be beyond. [9] But in those cases the entire voyage was by water, and made in one vessel. The contract in this case is an entirety, to carry from New York to San Francisco, requiring for its fulfilment two steamers and a railway. The land carriage is a substantial part of the voyage. It obviates the necessity of a long and tedious voyage by water, and gives to that route its chief value. It is of no consequence whether the land transit between the two oceans be long or short. The court will not determine the question of jurisdiction, by a comparison of the distances by land and by water. If this contract is of admiralty cognizance, so is an agreement for the transportation of passengers from Liverpool to San Francisco, via New York, Chicago, and Salt Lake. There is no difference in principle between the two cases. In both, the voyage by water forms a substantial part of the contract, and so does that by land.
If a passenger contract is of admiralty cognizance at all, it is because it comes substantially within the definition of an affreightment. [10] But affreightments relate exclusively to voyages by water. And it was conceded by Nelson, J., in the case just cited, that a contract 'must be wholly of admiralty cognizance, or else it is not at all within it.' He also expressly admits the correctness of the argument for the claimant, that 'it is not enough that the contract includes an obligation, or some obligation of a maritime nature; but that it must, as an entirety in all its material and substantial parts, be for the performance of maritime services, or else the case is wholly without the limits of the admiralty jurisdiction.' Assuming this to be the law, the agreement, in this case, is not as an entirety, a maritime contract.
Again, in a proceeding ex contractu, in the admiralty, there must not only be a maritime contract, but also a maritime cause of action. In other words, the ship must be bound for the performance of the contract, otherwise no cause of action in rem can exist. [11] It cannot be contended that the Moses Taylor was bound for the performance of an entire contract, according to the principles of admiralty and maritime law. It was only by force of the statute that she could have been held liable-at least for the breaches occurring on the Isthmus, inasmuch as she does not appear to have been the instrumental cause of the detention. And this court can presume no fact necessary to sustain the admiralty jurisdiction. [12]
II. The validity of State laws of the character of the statute of California has been expressly adjudicated in numerous cases. [13] And this court virtually concedes their validity: First, by basing thereon a portion of the admiralty jurisdiction of the District Courts; [14] and, subsequently, by amending the twelfth rule in admiralty, so as to retain jurisdiction in personam, but leaving the enforcement of the lien in rem to the State courts. [15] No case has ever arisen calling for the determination of the question by this court. Martin v. Hunter, and Cohen v. Virginia, cited on the other side, were upon the question, whether a writ of error would lie to a State court? And in Slocum Mayberry, the question was not raised by the defendant in error. The judgment of the State court was affirmed, on the ground that the Embargo Act did not authorize the seizure of the cargo, and that replevin would lie for it in the State court.
As an original question, it is submitted that it has no foundation in principle. The origin of all the misunderstanding on the subject lies in the Judiciary Act. Congress, throughout that act, legislated upon the supposition, that whatever jurisdiction was by the Constitution vested in the Federal courts might be made exclusive. [16] And judges and commentators have not always been sufficiently alive to the distinction between an act of Congress and a constitutional grant; and have assumed the jurisdiction to be exclusive without inquiry, because Congress declared it so. And because the language of the Judiciary Act raised a doubt of the jurisdiction of the State tribunals, suitors have usually sought redress in the District Courts, whose jurisdiction was unquestioned; and hence has arisen a sort of negative acquiescence in a doctrine often asserted, but never demonstrated nor decided; not such a general acquiescence, however, as counsel for the plaintiff in error seems to believe. The cases already cited, and many others asserting the validity of State laws, like the present, are sufficient to rebut any presumption of acquiescence. It is also well known that most of the States bordering on navigable waters have similar laws, and that the courts of such States have hitherto exercised almost unquestioned jurisdiction under such laws, by proceedings in rem.
Among the most approved rules of interpretation to determine the exclusiveness of Federal authority, are the following: 1. Where the grant is exclusive in its terms. 2. Where the power is prohibited to the States. 3. Where there is a direct repugnancy, or incompatibility, in its exercise by the States. [17]
'In all other cases,' says Story, J., in Houston v. Moore, [18] 'a reasonable interpretation of that instrument necessarily leads to the conclusion, that the powers so granted are never exclusive of similar power existing in the States.'
'But we are taught by the note in the Commentaries referred to, that the State courts have all the concurrent cognizance which they had originally, in 1787, over maritime contracts, and that this concurrent jurisdiction does not depend, as declared in 1 Wheaton, 337, on the pleasure of Congress, but is founded on the 'reasonable interpretation of the Constitution." [19]
Again, the Federalist shows [20] that the grant of jurisdiction to the Federal courts was not intended to be exclusive; and at all events that 'the State courts would be divested of no part of their primitive jurisdiction, further than may relate to an appeal.'
It may, therefore, be considered as established—
It is well known that at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, whatever admiralty jurisdiction existed in this country, was exercised by the State courts, with the exception of piracies and felonies on the high seas and appeals in cases of capture. Before the Revolution each colony had its court of admiralty. During the Revolution and up to the adoption of the Constitution, this jurisdiction was vested in and exercised by the States respectively, subject to the power of Congress as contained in the Articles of Confederation, [21] to establish courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of capture, and courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas.
Now let us examine this question of incompatibility. The rule, as stated by Story, in his Commentaries on the Constitution, [22] is this:
In such cases the Constitution provides the remedy in the declared supremacy of the Constitution and laws of the Union, and the supervisory control of the Supreme Court. In the exercise of concurrent judicial powers, courts have also adopted a rule of judicial comity eminently calculated to prevent such conflicts. It is, that the court which first obtains possession or custody of the thing by attachment or proceeding in rem, shall retain it. Such was the case of the Robert Fulton. [23] That was a case of admiralty cognizance. And the libel was dismissed because an attachment under the Boat and Vessel Act of the State, had previously been levied on the vessel, and she was in the custody of the sheriff when the libel was filed.
The following are given as samples of concurrent powers: The power to lay taxes, [24] though expressly given to Congress. So by the Constitution Congress has the power to lay and collect duties, imposts, and excises which 'shall be uniform throughout the United States.' But the license laws of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, forbidding the sale of spirituous liquors, in less than certain large quantities, were held not to be repugnant to this clause, nor to that regulating commerce. [25]
So the States are not deprived of the power of regulating pilots, when such regulation does not interfere with the acts of Congress. So the power granted to Congress to establish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies does not deprive the States of the power to pass bankrupt laws. So offences against the military laws of the United States by persons called into the service of the United States, may be tried by State courts-martial, where the act of Congress does not expressly vest exclusive jurisdiction in the courts-martial thereby authorized. [26]
To sustain the third proposition, we cite the cases under the second head, declaring and conceding the validity of these local laws. [27]
This case arises upon certain provisions of a statute of California regulating proceedings in civil cases in the courts of that State. [28] The sixth chapter of the statute relates to actions against steamers, vessels, and boats, and provides that they shall be liable-1st, for services rendered on board of them, at the request of, or on contract with, their respective owners, agents, masters, or consignees; 2d, for supplies furnished for their use upon the like request; 3d, for materials furnished in their construction, repair, or equipment; 4th, for their wharfage and anchorage within the State; 5th, for non-performance or mal-performance of any contract for the transportation of persons or property made by their respective spective owners, agents, masters, or consignees; 6th, for injuries committed by them to persons or property; and declares that these several causes of action shall constitute liens upon the steamers, vessels, and boats, for one year after the causes of action shall have accrued, and have priority in the order enumerated, and preference over all other demands. The statute also provides that actions for demands arising upon any of these grounds may be brought directly against the steamers, vessels, or boats by name; that process may be served on the master, mate, or any person having charge of the same; that they may be attached as security for the satisfaction of any judgment which may be recovered; and that if the attachment be not discharged, and a judgment be recovered by the plaintiff, they may be sold, with their tackle, apparel, and furniture, or such interest therein as may be necessary, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the judgment.
In 1863, the steamship Moses Taylor, a vessel of over one thousand tons burden, was owned by Marshall O. Roberts, of the city of New York, and was employed by him in navigating the Pacific Ocean, and in carrying passengers and freight between Panama and San Francisco. In October of that year the plaintiff in the court below, the defendant in error in this court, entered into a contract with Roberts, as owner of this steamship, by which, in consideration of one hundred dollars, Roberts agreed to transport him from New York to San Francisco as a steerage passenger, with reasonable despatch, and to furnish him with proper and necessary food, water, and berths, or other conveniences for lodging, on the voyage. The contract, as set forth in the complaint, does not in terms provide for transportation on any portion of the voyage by the Moses Taylor, but the case was tried upon the supposition that such was the fact, and we shall, therefore, treat the contract as if it specified a transportation by that steamer on the Pacific for the distance between Panama and San Francisco. For alleged breach of this contract the present action was brought, under the statute mentioned, in a court of a justice of the peace held within the city of San Francisco. Courts held by justices of the peace were at that time by another statute invested with jurisdiction of these cases, where the amount claimed did not exceed two hundred dollars, except where the action was brought to recover seamen's wages for a voyage performed, in whole or in part, without the waters of the State. [29]
The justice of the peace overruled the objection to his jurisdiction, and gave judgment for the amount claimed. On appeal to the County Court the action was tried de novo upon the same pleadings, but in all respects as if originally commenced in that court. The want of jurisdiction there, and the exclusive cognizance of such causes of action by the courts of admiralty were again urged and were again overruled; and a similar judgment to that of the justice of the peace was rendered. The amount of the judgment was too small to enable the owner of the steamer to take the case by appeal to the Supreme Court of the State. That court has no appellate jurisdiction in cases where the demand in dispute, exclusive of interest, is under three hundred dollars, unless it involve the legality of a tax, impost, assessment, toll, or municipal fine. [30] The decision of the County Court was the decision of the highest court in the State which had jurisdiction of the matter in controversy. From that court, therefore, the case is brought here by writ of error.
The statute of California, to the extent in which it authorizes actions in rem against vessels for causes of action cognizable in the admiralty, invests her courts with admiralty jurisdiction, and so the Supreme Court of that State has decided in several cases. In Averill v. The Steamer Harford, [31] the court thus held, and added that 'the proceedings in such actions must be governed by the principles and forms of admiralty courts, except where otherwise controlled or directed by the act.'
The Constitution declares that the judicial power of the United States 'shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States; between a State and citizens of another State; between citizens of different States; between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States; and between a State or the citizens thereof and foreign States, citizens, or subjects.' [32]
How far this judicial power is exclusive, or may, by the legislation of Congress, be made exclusive, in the courts of the United States, has been much discussed, though there has been no direct adjudication upon the point. In the opinion delivered in the case of Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, [33] Mr. Justice Story comments upon the fact that there are two classes of cases enumerated in the clause cited, between which a distinction is drawn; that the first class includes cases arising under the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States, cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and that, with reference to this class, the expression is that the judicial power shall extend to all cases; but that in the subsequent part of the clause, which embraces all the other cases of national cognizance, and forms the second class, the word 'all' is dropped. And the learned justice appears to have thought the variation in the language the result of some determinate reason, and suggests that, with respect to the first class, it may have been the intention of the framers of the Constitution imperatively to extend the judicial power either in an original or appellate form to all cases, and, with respect to the latter class, to leave it to Congress to qualify the jurisdiction in such manner as public policy might dictate. Many cogent reasons and various considerations of public policy are stated in support of this suggestion. The vital importance of all the cases enumerated in the first class to the national sovereignty is mentioned as a reason which may have warranted the distinction, and which would seem to require that they should be vested exclusively in the national courts,-a consideration which does not apply, at least with equal force, to cases of the second class. Without, however, placing implicit reliance upon the distinction stated, the learned justice observes, in conclusion, that it is manifest that the judicial power of the United States is in some cases unavoidably exclusive of all State authority, and that in all others it may be made so at the election of Congress. We agree fully with this conclusion. The legislation of Congress has proceeded upon this supposition. The Judiciary Act of 1789, in its distribution of jurisdiction to the several Federal courts, recognizes and is framed upon the theory that in all cases to which the judicial power of the United States extends, Congress may rightfully vest exclusive jurisdiction in the Federal courts. It declares that in some cases, from their commencement, such jurisdiction shall be exclusive; in other cases it determines at what stage of procedure such jurisdiction shall attach, and how long and how far concurrent jurisdiction of the State courts shall be permitted. Thus, cases in which the United States are parties, civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and cases against consuls and vice-consuls, except for certain offences, are placed, from their commencement, exclusively under the cognizance of the Federal courts.
The cognizance of civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction vested in the District Courts by the ninth section of the Judiciary Act, may be supported upon like considerations. It has been made exclusive by Congress, and that is sufficient, even if we should admit that in the absence of its legislation the State courts might have taken cognizance of these causes. But there are many weighty reasons why it was so declared. 'The admiralty jurisdiction,' says Mr. Justice Story, 'naturally connects itself, on the one hand, with our diplomatic relations and the duties to foreign nations and their subjects; and, on the other hand, with the great interests of navigation and commerce, foreign and domestic. There is, then, a peculiar wisdom in giving to the national government a jurisdiction of this sort which cannot be yielded, except for the general good, and which multiplies the securities for the public peace abroad, and gives to commerce and navigation the most encouraging support at home.' [34]
^7 In Ferris v. Coover (11 California, 175), this pretension, advanced by the earlier judges of the Supreme Court of California, was exploded in an elaborate opinion rendered by Baldwin, J.; Field J., concurring.-REP.
^8 9 California, 697.
^9 The Robert Morris, 1 Wallace, Jr., 33.
^10 The Pacific, 1 Blatchford, C. C. R. 569; Id. 360.
^11 The Pacific, 1 Blatchford, C. C. R. 587.
^12 Peyroux v. Howard, 7 Peters, 341.
^13 Thompson v. Steamboat, 2 Ohio, N. S. 26; Owen v. Johnson, Id. 142; Keating v. Spink, 3 Id. 105; Steamboat v. McCraw, 31 Alabama, 659; Warner v. Uncle Sam, 9 California, 697; Taylor v. The Columbia, 5 Id. 268.
^14 Gen. Smith, 4 Wheaton, 439; Peyroux v. Howard, 7 Peters, 324.
^15 McGuire v. Card, 21 Howard, 248; The St. Lawrence, 1 Black, 522.
^16 Story on the Constitution, § 1751.
^17 Story on the Constitution, § 436, 447; 1 Kent's Com. 396.
^18 5 Wheaton, 49.
^19 1 Kent's Com. 377, note c, 9th ed., marginal paging.
^20 Nos. 81 and 82.
^21 Article 9, § 1.
^22 §§ 437, 438.
^23 1 Paine, 626.
^24 Story on the Constitution, § 438.
^25 The License Cases, 5 Howard, 504-577.
^26 Houston v. Moore, 5 Wheaton, 1.
^27 See, also, Cashmere v. De Wolf, 2 Sandford Supreme Court (N. Y.), 379, Percival v. Hickey, 18 Johnson, 291; Blake v. Patton, 15 Maine, 173.
^28 Laws of California of 1851, p. 51.
^29 Laws of California of 1853, p. 287, and of 1856, p. 133.
^30 Constitution of the State, Art. VI, sec. 4, as amended in 1862.
^31 2 California, 308.
^32 Article II, § 2.
^33 1 Wheaton, 334.
^34 Commentaries, § 1672.
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