Case Name: BENJAMIN v. The WATCHMAN
Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1858
Citations: 3 F. Cas. 191
Docket Number: 
Parties: BENJAMIN v. The WATCHMAN.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Cases
Volume: 3
Pages: 191–191

Head Matter:
Case No. 1,305.
BENJAMIN v. The WATCHMAN.
[21 Law Rep. 40.]
District Court, S. D. New York.
1858.
Salvage — Purchase by Salvor.
[Note. This case is nowhere more fully reported. The opinion, if one was written, is not now accessible.]

Opinion:
A party who has purchased the vessel while she was a wreck can in no case be regarded as a salvor, in .the sense of the maritime law. Otherwise the court would be called upon to decree to him a share of the property saved as compensation, and then decree the surplus to him as owner. A libel brought .in such case can only be .to obtain, by the intervention of the court, a confirmation of the sale to him and of his title, and there is no authority in law for such a proceeding.