Case Name: The Neustra Senora de da Caridad-Bages et al. Claimants
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1819-02
Citations: 4 Wheat. 497
Docket Number: 
Parties: The Neustra Senora de da Caridad — Bages et al. Claimants.
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Reports
Volume: 17
Pages: 497–502

Head Matter:
(PRIZE.)
The Neustra Senora de da Caridad — Bages et al. Claimants.
A cruiser, equipped at the port of (Carthagena, in South America, and commissioned under the authority of the province of Carthagena, one of the United Provinces of New Grenada, at war With Spain, sailed from the said port, and captured on the high seas, as prize, a vessel and cargo, belonging to the subjects of the .king of Spain, and put a prize crew on board; and ordered her to proceed to the said port of Carthagena; the. captured vessel was' afterwards fallen in with by a private armed vessel of the United States, and the cargo taken out-and brought into the United States for adjudication as the property of their enemy; The originaPSpanish owner, and the prizeihaster from; the Carthagenian cruiser, both claimed the goods. The possession was decreed to be restored to the Carthagcman prizemast'er.
War. having.been, recognized to exist between Spain and her colonies- ' by the government of the United States, it is the duty of the Courts of the United States* where'a capture is made by either of the belligerent parties without any violatipn of ,our neutrality, arid the captured prize is brought innocently within our jurisdiction, to leave . things in the same state they find them; or to restore them to the * state ’from which they have been fdfcibly removed by the act of qur own citizens..
The Spanish treaty held- not to apply to the above case,, as the Court could not consider the Carthagenian eaptors as pirates, and the ‘' capture was' riot made within the jurisdictional limits of the United States; the only twocasesin which the. treaty enjoins restitution.
Appeal from the Circuit Court of North Carolina.
This was a prize allegation against certain goods, taken by a private armed vessel of the United States, the Harrison, daring the late war with Great Britain, out of a ship called the Neustra Señora de la Caridad. A claim- was interposed by Salvador Bages, and others, Spanish subjects, domiciled at St. Jago, the*, island of Cuba, alleging that the ship was a Spanish ship, and* with the goods, their property, was captured on the high seas, by an armed vessel cruizing under.-the pretended colours of Carthagena, the commander of which produced no commission, nor did the claimants know, or admit, he had one, and who detained the Caridad as prize, and put a prize crew on board. That having separated from the capturing vessel, they were met with and boarded by the privateer Harrison. That the . said privateer captured, and took possession of the Caridad, and the captors Unladed the cargo from on board of her, into the Harrison, and having brought the same into the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, proceeded against it as prize of war.
A cross claim was filed by Pedro Brugman, master and commander of the Carthagenian armed schooner Neustra Señora de la Popa, in behalf Of himself, and others, the owners of said privateer, to the' goods thus proceeded against as prize of war by the cof'mander, officers^ and crew of the Harrison. This claim pleaded, that the goods Were not at the time of the proceedings, nor at the timé of capture by the Harrison, the property of any British subjects, or of any persons domiciled in the dominions of Great Britain, nor of any of the enemies of the United States, but that the same then were, and yet are, the property< of the owners,'officers, and crew of théLa Popa, from- whose lawful possession the same had been violently and wrongfully taken, on the high seas, by the Harrison, as before mentioned. That the La Popa,. having been duly commissioned by the sovereign authority of the independent State of Carthagena, and furnished with letters of marque and reprisal, authorizing her to capture, on the high seas, the property of the enemies of said State, left the port of Carthagena in the month,of December, .1814,, on, a cruise. - That on the'21st of January, 1815, while cruising'off St. Jago de Cuba, the said privateer La Popa, commanded by the claimant, .seized and capturéd the ship La- Caridad, sailing from Jamaica to Cuba, loaded With, drygoods, and belonging,-with the cargo, to the enemies of the said independent State of. Carthagena, as the papers on board, and the. information of the master and crew, convinced the claimant to be the fact. That the claimant put a prizemaster and crew x on board the captured vessel, and ordered her to proceed to the said port, of Carthágena. That the said prizemaster and crew, retained the possession for four days, and while they were proceeding to Carthagena, the¡ Caridad was forcibly taken by- the Harrison-from. their, possession, the goods taken out, and... brought' into the port of Wilrpington, as aforesaid.
An order was made by the Court below,-, that the claimant, Pedro. JBrugman,. should... be allowed to make farther proof, that the commission which > he. produced, and under which , he alleged the original capture to have, been made, was; issued, by. the authority acting as the, sovereign authority of the.United Provinces pf New-Grenada.
At the bearing it was .proved, by the testimony of witnesses, that the La Popa belonged to and had been actually fitted out in Carthagena, one of the1 said United Provinces of New Grenada; that the commission produced by the commander, was in the usual form in which letters of marque were issued by the sovereign authority of that Province; that the seal affixed to the same was the seal used at the time by those who exercised the sovereign authority of Carthagena to authenticate the commissions by them granted; that the officers of state by whom the same was signed, were at the time, and had been for some time before, respectively, the Governor and the Secretary of War, and the Marine of the said. Province ; that the witnesses were acquainted with the hand writing of the said Governor and Secretary, the wit-s nesses having often seen them write, as well as seen their public and acknowledged writings, and verily believed the same to be their signatures. And the commission was also proved to be genuine, and to have regularly issued, by the certificates and declarations of the officers ofstate of the Province of Carthagena. The original capture by the La Popa, the retaking by the Harrison, and the proprietary interest of the. original Spanish owners of the. goods were all fully proved. ;
The Circuit Court decreed, at May term,' 1818, the goods to be restored to the possession of Pedro Brugman; from which sentence an appeal was taken to this Court by the claimant, Salvador Bages, for "himself and the original Spanish owners.
. The, cause was submitted .without argument;'

Opinion:
Mr. Justice Johnson
delivered the' opinion of the Court.
. This; case arose out of a capture made la the late war. The La Popa, a commissioned cruiser of. the Province of Carthagena, had made prize of the Caridad, a Spanish vessel, in a voyage1 from Jamaica, to Cuba. The American private armed vessel Harr rison fell'in. with the Caridad, then in'possession of the prize crew of the La Popa, anfi suspecting her cargo to be British, took possession of it, and transhipped it into their own vessel.. ' Oh the arrival of the Harrison in á port of North Carolina, the cargo was claimed both by the Caridad and La Popa, and' finally restored to the La=Popaj
This.is an appeal from the decision of the Circuit Court of North Carolina, made by the original Spar, nish ownerj and the case has been submitted on the evidence and the grounds taken in the argument be- - lo^. '
There is no doubt 'that the property was Spanish, nor that the privateer La Popa was commissioned as a cruiser, whilst the Province of Carthagena had an organizéd government; and there' is/ the fullest evidence that her armament and equipment was unaffected by any charge of having' been made-in violar tion of our laws. ' ' • •»'*•*
. The only question in the case isj whether an ori-' , ginal Spanish owner is entitled to the aid of the ,Courts of-this country, to restore to him property of which he has been dispossessed by capture, under, a commission derived from the revolted colonies ? and this question is considered, by this court, as having been fully decided by the principles assumed in the case of the United States v. Palmer, at the last term, and by the decisions in the cases of the Estrella and Divina Pastora at the present term.
War notoriously exists', and is recognized by our government to exist, between Spain and her colonies. This is an appeal to the highest of all tribunals on a question of right. No neutral nation can act against either, without taking part with the other in the war, All that, the law of nations requires of us, is strict arid impartial neutrality. And no friendly nation ought to demand of the Courts of this country to do an act which may involve it in a war with the victor. Our duty is, where the property of either is brought innocently within our jurisdiction, to leave things as we find them; much more to restore them to that state from which they, have been forcibly removed by the act of our own citizens. The* treaty with Spain can have.no bearing upon the case,.as. this Court cannot recognize such captors as pirates, and the capture was not made within pur jurisdic-tional. limits. In- those two cases only dues the treaty enjoin restitution.
Decreté affirmed, with costs.,,
3 Wheat. 610.
Ante, p. 298.
Ante, p. 52.