Opinion ID: 86460
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: By the second section of the third article of the Constitution, it is declared that the judicial power shall extend to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. The ground of objection to the jurisdiction, in this case, rests upon the assumption, that this provision had reference to the jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty in England, as restrained by the statutes of 13 and 15 Richard II., or as exercised in the colonies by the courts of vice-admiralty, which, as their decisions were subject to the appellate power of the High Court at home, with few exceptions, and those by act of Parliament, were confined within the same limits. This is the foundation of the argument in support of the restricted jurisdiction, and which, it is claimed, excludes the contract in question. Under the statutes of Richard, as expounded by the common law courts, in cases of prohibition against the admiralty, its jurisdiction over contracts was confined to seamen's wages, bottomry bonds, and contracts made and to be executed on the high seas. If made on land, or within the body of an English county, though to be executed, or the service to be performed, upon the sea, or if made upon the sea, but to be executed upon the land, in either case it was held by the common law courts that the admiralty had no jurisdiction. In the first, because the place where the contract was made, and in the second, where it was to be performed, was within the body of the county, and, of course, within the cognizance of the common law courts, which excluded the admiralty. It is not to be denied, therefore, if the grant of power in the Constitution had reference to the jurisdiction of the admiralty in England at the time, and is to be governed by it, that the present suit cannot be maintained, as the District Court of Rhode Island had no jurisdiction. But in answer to this view, and to the ground on which it rests, we have been referred to the practical construction that has been given to the Constitution by Congress in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the courts of admiralty, and assigned to them their jurisdiction; and also to the adjudications of this, and of the Circuit and District Courts, in admiralty cases, which not only reject the very limited jurisdiction in England, but assert and uphold a jurisdiction much more comprehensive, both in respect to contracts and torts, and which has been exercised ever since the establishment of these courts. And it is insisted, that, whatever may have been the doubt, originally, as to the true construction of the grant, whether it had reference to the jurisdiction in England, or to the more enlarged one that existed in other maritime countries, the question has become settled by legislative and judicial interpretation, which ought not now to be disturbed. We are inclined to concur in this view, and shall proceed to state some of the grounds in support of it. By the ninth section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the admiralty courts, it is declared that the District Courts shall have exclusive original cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, 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; saving to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common law remedy, where the common law is competent to give it. The High Court of Admiralty in England never had original jurisdiction of causes arising under the revenue laws, or laws concerning the navigation and trade of the kingdom. They belong, exclusively, to the jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer, in which the proceedings are conducted as at common law. That court exercises an appellate power ever the decisions of the vice-admiralty courts in revenue cases in the colonies; even that power was doubted, till affirmed by the Court of Delegates, on an appeal from a decision of the vice-admiralty court in South Carolina, in 1754. Since then, it has been exercised; but this is the extent of its power over revenue cases, or cases arising under the navigation laws. Thus it will be seen that a very wide departure from the English limit of admiralty jurisdiction took place within two years after the adoption of the Constitution; and that, too, by the Congress called upon to expound the grant with a view to the establishment of the proper tribunals to carry it into execution. The constitutionality of this act of Congress, and, of course, the true construction of the grant in the Constitution, became a subject of discussion before this court, at a very early day, on several occasions, and received its particular consideration. The first case that involved the question was the case of The Vengeance, in 1796, nine years after the adoption of the Constitution. (3 Dallas, 297.) The vessel was seized by the marshal in the port of New York, as forfeited under an act of Congress, prohibiting the exportation of arms, and libelled and condemned in the District Court. On appeal, the Circuit Court reversed the decree and dismissed the proceedings; upon which an appeal was taken to this court. On the argument, the Attorney-General took two grounds for reversing the decree. The second was, that, even if the proceeding could be considered a civil suit, it was not a suit of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and therefore the Circuit Court should have remanded it to the District Court, to be tried before a jury. He referred to the ninth section of the Judiciary Act, which declared, that the trials of issues of fact in the District Courts, in all causes except civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, shall be by jury, and insisted, that a libel for a violation of the navigation laws was not a civil suit of admiralty jurisdiction; that the principles regulating the admiralty jurisdiction in this country must be such as were consistent with the common law of England at the period of the Revolution; that there admiralty causes must be causes arising wholly upon the sea, and not within the precincts of any county; that the act of exporting arms must have commenced on land, and if done part on land and part on the sea, the authorities held that the admiralty had no jurisdiction. The court took time to consider the question, and on a subsequent day gave judgment, holding that the suit was a civil cause of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and therefore rightfully tried by the District Court without a jury; that the case was one coming within the general admiralty powers of the court; and, for a like reason, it was held that the appeal to the Circuit Court was regular, and properly disposed of. It will be observed that the seizure, in this case, was in the port of New York, and within the body of the county, which extends to Sandy Hook. The next case that came before the court was the case of The Schooner Sally, in 1805, which arose in the Maryland district, and involved the same question as in the case of the Vengeance, and was decided in the same way. But the most important one, as it respects the question before us, was the case of The Schooner Betsey, in 1808 (4 Cranch, 443). This vessel was seized for a violation of the non-intercourse act between the United States and St. Domingo, in the port of Alexandria, in this District. She was condemned in the District Court; but on appeal the Circuit Court reversed the decree, from which an appeal was taken to this court. Mr. Lee, who had argued the case of the Vengeance, appeared for the claimant, and requested permission to argue the point again more at large, namely, whether the case was one of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and in this argument will be found the ground and substance of all the arguments which have been since urged in favor of the limited construction of the admiralty power under the Constitution. He referred to the terms of the grant in the Constitution, and denied that Congress could make cases of admiralty jurisdiction; nor could it confer on the federal courts jurisdiction of a case which was not of admiralty and maritime cognizance at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. That the seizure of a vessel within the body of a county, for a breach of a municipal law of trade, was not of admiralty cognizance,  that it was never so considered in England,  that all seizures in that country for a violation of the revenue and navigation acts were tried by a jury, in the Court of Exchequer, according to the course of the common law,  that the High Court of Admiralty in England exercised no jurisdiction in revenue cases,  and insisted, that if the ninth section of the Judiciary Act was to be construed as including revenue cases and seizures under the navigation acts as civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, the act was repugnant to the Constitution, and void. The court rejected the argument, and held that the case was not distinguishable from that of the Vengeance, and which they had already determined belonged properly to the jurisdiction of the admiralty. They observed, that it was the place of seizure, and not the place of committing the offence, that determined the jurisdiction, and regarded it as clear that Congress meant to discriminate between seizures on waters navigable from the sea, and seizures on land or on waters not navigable, and to class the former among the civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. Similar objections were taken to the jurisdiction of the court in the cases of The Samuel and The Octavia (1 Wheat. 9 and 20), and received a similar answer from the court. We have been more particular in referring to these cases, and to the arguments of counsel, because they show,  1. That the arguments used in the present case against the jurisdiction, and in favor of restricting it to the common law limit in England at the Revolution, have been heretofore presented to the court, on several occasions, and at a very early day, and on each, after full consideration, were rejected, and the judgment of the court placed upon grounds altogether inconsistent with that mode of construing the Constitution; and, 2. They affirm the practical construction given to the Constitution by Congress in the act of 1789, which, we have seen, assigns to the District Courts, in terms, a vast field of admiralty jurisdiction unknown to that court in England. The jurisdiction in all these cases is maintained on the broad ground, that the subject-matter was of admiralty cognizance, as the causes of action arose out of transactions that had occurred upon the high seas, or within the ebb and flow of the tide; expressly rejecting the common law test, which was attempted to be applied, namely, that they arose within the body of a county, and therefore out of the limits of the admiralty. In answer to an argument that was pressed, that the offence must have been committed upon land, such as in case of an exportation of prohibited goods, the court say that it is the place of seizure, and not the place of committing the offence, that decides the jurisdiction,  a seizure upon the high seas or within tide-waters, although the tide-waters may be within the body of a county. All the cases thus arising under the revenue and navigation laws were held to be civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction within the words of the Constitution, and, as such, were properly assigned to the District Court, in the act of 1789, as part of its admiralty jurisdiction. They were so regarded, as well in respect to the subject-matter as in respect to the place where the causes of action had arisen. The clause in the act of 1789, saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common law remedy where the common law is competent to give it, was referred to on the argument in support of the restricted jurisdiction. And it was insisted that the remedy is thus saved to both parties, plaintiff and defendant, and is, in effect, an exception from the admiralty power conferred upon the District Courts of all causes in which a remedy might be had at common law. The language is certainly peculiar, and unfortunate, if this was the object of the clause; and besides, the construction would exclude from the District Court cases which the sternest opponent of the admiralty will admit properly belonged to it. The common law courts exercise a concurrent jurisdiction in nearly all the cases of admiralty cognizance, whether of tort or contract (with the exception of proceedings in rem), which, upon the construction contended for, would be transferred from the admiralty to the exclusive cognizance of these courts. The meaning of the clause we think apparent. By the Constitution, the entire admiralty power of the country is lodged in the federal judiciary, and Congress intended by the ninth section to invest the District Courts with this power, as courts of original jurisdiction. The term exclusive original cognizance is used for this purpose, and is intended to be exclusive of the State, as well as of the other federal courts. The saving clause was inserted, probably, from abundant caution, lest the exclusive terms in which the power is conferred on the District Courts might be deemed to have taken away the concurrent remedy which had before existed. This leaves the concurrent power where it stood at common law. The clause has no application to seizures arising under the revenue laws, or laws of navigation, as these belong exclusively to the District Courts. (Slocum v. Mayberry, 2 Wheat. 1; Gelston v. Hoyt, 3 ib. 246.) If the thing seized is acquitted, then the owner may prosecute the wrong-doer for the taking and detention, either in admiralty or at common law. The remedy is concurrent. (Ibid.) 2. Another class of cases in which jurisdiction has always been exercised by the admiralty courts in this country, but which is denied in England, are suits by ship-carpenters and material men, for repairs and necessaries, made and furnished to ships, whether foreign or in the port of a State to which they do not belong, or in the home port, if the municipal laws of the State give a lien for the work and materials. (1 Peters's Adm. R. 227, 233, note; Bee's Adm. R. 106; 4 Wash. C.C.R. 453; 1 Payne, 620; Gilpin, D.C.R. 203, 473; 1 Wheat. 96; 4 ib. 438; 9 ib. 409; 10 ib. 428; 7 Peters, 324; 11 ib. 175.) The principle stated in the case of The General Smith, 4 Wheat. 438, and which has been repeated in all the subsequent cases, is, that where repairs have been made or necessaries furnished to a foreign ship, or to a ship, in the ports of a State to which she does not belong, the general maritime law gives a lien on the ship as security, and the party may maintain a suit in admiralty to enforce his right. But as to repairs or necessaries in the port or State to which the ship belongs, the case is governed altogether by the local law of the State, and no lien is implied unless recognized by that law. But if the local law gives the lien, it may be enforced in admiralty. The jurisdiction in these cases, as will be seen from the authorities referred to, appears to have been exercised by the District Courts from the time of their earliest organization, and which was affirmed by this court the first time the question came before it. The District Court of South Carolina, in 1796, in the case of North and Vesey v. The Brig Eagle, Bee's R. 79, maintained a libel for supplies furnished a foreign vessel, and considered the question as a very clear one at that day. See also Pritchard v. The Lady Horatia, p. 169, decided in 1800. Judge Winchester, district judge of the Maryland district; maintained the jurisdiction, in a most able opinion, at a very early day. (1 Peters's Adm. R. 233, note.) The same opinion was also entertained by Judge Peters, of the Pennsylvania district. (1 Peters, 227.) Since then, the jurisdiction appears to have been undisputed. We refer to these opinions, not so much for the authority they afford, though entitled to the highest respect as such, but as evidence of the line of jurisdiction exercised, at that early day, by learned admiralty lawyers, in direct contradiction to the theory, that the constitutional limit is to be determined by the jurisdiction in England. They are the opinions of men of the Revolution, engaged in administering admiralty law as understood in the country soon after the adoption of the Constitution, fresh from the discussions which every provision and grant of power in that instrument had undergone. The opinions may be well referred to as affording the highest evidence of the law on this subject in their day. 3. Another class of cases in which jurisdiction is entertained by the courts in this country on contracts, but which is denied in England, are suits for pilotage. (10 Peters, 108). It is denied in England on the ground of locality, the contract having been made within the body of a county. We shall pursue the examination no farther. The authorities, we think are decisive against expounding the constitutional grant according to the jurisdiction of the English admiralty, and in favor of a line of jurisdiction which fully embraces the contract in question. Before jurisdiction can be withheld in the case, the court must not only retrace its steps, and take back several of its decided cases, but must also disapprove of the ground which has heretofore been taken, and maintained in every case, as the proper test of admiralty jurisdiction. Some question was made on the argument founded on the circumstance, that this was a suit in personam. The answer is, if the cause is a maritime cause, subject to admiralty cognizance, jurisdiction is complete over the person, as well as over the ship; it must, in its nature, be complete, for it cannot be confined to one of the remedies on the contract, when the contract itself is within its cognizance. On looking into the several cases in admiralty which have come before this court, and in which its jurisdiction was involved or came under its observation, it will be found that the inquiry has been, not into the jurisdiction of the court of admiralty in England, but into the nature and subject-matter of the contract,  whether it was a maritime contract, and the service a maritime service, to be performed upon the sea, or upon waters within the ebb and flow of the tide. And, again, whether the service was to be substantially performed upon the sea, or tide-waters, although it had commenced and had terminated beyond the reach of the tide; if it was, then jurisdiction has always been maintained. But if the substantial part of the service under the contract is to be performed beyond tide-waters, or if the contract relates exclusively to the interior navigation and trade of a State, jurisdiction is disclaimed. (10 Wheat. 428; 7 Peters, 324; 11 ib. 175; 12 ib. 72; 5 Howard, 463.) The exclusive jurisdiction in admiralty cases was conferred on the national government, as closely connected with the grant of the commercial power. It is a maritime court instituted for the purpose of administering the law of the seas. There seems to be ground, therefore, for restraining its jurisdiction, in some measure, within the limit of the grant of the commercial power, which would confine it, in cases of contracts, to those concerning the navigation and trade of the country upon the high seas and tide-waters with foreign countries, and among the several States. Contracts growing out of the purely internal commerce of the State, as well as commerce beyond tide-waters, are generally domestic in their origin and operation, and could scarcely have been intended to be drawn within the cognizance of the federal courts. Upon the whole, without pursuing the examination farther, we are satisfied that the decision of the Circuit Court below was correct, and that its decree should be affirmed.