The Harriet Newhall
The Harriet Newhall
Opinion of the Court
The value put on the vessel on the evidence reported, I think is reasonable, and is confirmed at $1,500. The damage in the loss of the cargo, is presented in the report in a double aspect First, the original cost, including the ship’s stores and furniture is found to be $557.32. Secondly, the value of the same at Boston, her port of destination, provided she arrived in safety, is found to be $1,861.72. Which of these is the true measure of damage in a loss by collision? Damage may be done and a right to indemnity arise under two different conditions. First under a contract, which a party has failed to perform, and the plaintiff seeks damages for the non-performance. The French law has an appropriate name for these, which are called dommage et enterests; and they include the actual loss sustained and the profits which the party has failed to gain. For in every contract, a profit is expected and constitutes the motive of the contract. If one party is disappointed in this expectation, by the failure of the other to fulfil his engagements, he has a right, according to the circumstances of the case, to demand a sum which will indemnify him for the actual loss and the profits, which have been defeated. See, an example, in Domat, Civ. Law, pt. 1. lib. 3. tit. 5, & 2, No. 4, which is amplified by 6 Toullier, No. 286. The second condition is when the damage is caused by a tort. And this may be presented under a twofold aspect. The first, is when the tort is unintentional, occasioned by a fault indeed, but such a fault as may happen to a prudent and careful man from sudden surprise, by which the mind is thrown off its balance, or from momentary inattention or forgetfulness, to which the most cautious men are liable; faults
Quas in curia fudit Aut humana parum cavit natura.
Such delinquencies are looked upon with indulgence, and in these the proper measure of damages, it may be assumed with a considerable appearance of reason, is the actual loss sustained, without augmenting it by the profits which the party might have made. The second aspect is when the tort is wilful and malicious; and here the court may and ought, according to circumstances, to enhance the indemnity by adding to the actual loss the expected profits. And the examples referred to above show that this may be done in the case of a wilful breach of contract. In some cases, as in slander, libel, seduction, torts to the person accompanied with contumely and intended to disgrace a man, it has been thought that courts may go beyond a simple reparation of the wrong to the individual, and award damages in poenam. 2 Greenl. Ev. § 253, and note, Where the question is fully argued pro et contra. Collision almost invariably belongs to the first class. We never suppose it to be intentional and malicious, and it would seem that the proper measure of damage is the actual loss sustained. 2 Pars. Cont. 459, and the cases in the notes. In the case of The Anna Maria, 2 Wheat. [15 U. S.] 327, which was a wrongful capture by a privateer, the conduct of the captors is described as “a wanton marine trespass for which no sufficient excuse was given. The breaking open of trunks, when keys were offered them, and taking out the crew and putting them in irons and leaving the vessel in this situation, were acts not to be excused.” And the ultimate loss of the vessel is represented as resulting from the illegal violence and misconduct of the captors. As the loss, in this case, was the consequence of a wanton and malicious tort, it would hardly have been considered as a harsh judgment, if the court had added to the actual loss, the reasonable profitthatmighthave been expected from the sale of the cargo at the port of destination. Ñeque malitiis indulgendum est Dig. 6, 1-3S. A wilful trespasser has no reason for complaint, if he is required to put the injured party in as good a condition in every respect as he would have been in, but for the wrong done; yet the court, in this case, held that the true measure of damages was ‘‘the value of the vessel and the prime cost of the cargo, with all charges and the premium of insurances where it has been paid with interest” Nothing was allowed for expected profits. A claim of expected profits was presented in a subsequent case — The Amiable Nancy, 3 Wheat [16 U. S.] 546, — and was rejected, first on account of the uncertainty of the rule in its application, and secondly, the difficulty of supporting its legal correctness. Though the courts say, that if the suit had been against the original wrong doers, it might have been proper to visit upon them exemplary damages, as a proper punishment for their lawless violence. These decisions establish a rule of damages in cases of marine tort, not only on the highest authority and that bind
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The HARRIET NEWHALL
- Status
- Published