Jackson v. The Kinnie
Jackson v. The Kinnie
Opinion of the Court
It is insisted by the libellants that the Hoboken Coal Company have no standing in court, that they have no lien upon this vessel which a court of admiralty will recognise or enforce, and that consequently they have no right to intervene for their own interest, or to contest the claims of the libellants. It is admitted that the propeller was owned in this state, that the intervenors were a corporation organized and carrying on business in this state, and that the supplies were furnished in this state. It is a case then of a domestic vessel, and supplies furnished in a home port. By the maritime law of continental Europe, no distinction is made between the cases of domestic and foreign ships, nor between supplies furnished in a home port and abroad. But by the maritime law of England and of this country, supplies furnished to a domestic vessel, in a home port, are presumed to be furnished on the personal credit of the owner or master, and do not create a lien, which can be enforced in a court of admiralty by proceedings in rem. But the interven-ors claim to have a lien upon this vessel, in virtue of an act of the legislature of New Jersey, approved March 20th, 1857. The title of the act is, “An act for the collection of demands against ships, steamboats, and other vessels" [Laws N. J. 1857, p. 382]. 4 Nixon’s Dig. 576. The. act, with the supplement thereto, approved March 18th. 1858 [Laws N. J. 1858, p. 464], provides that, “Whenever a debt amounting to $50 or upwards shall be contracted by the master, owner, agent, or consignees of any ship, or vessel within this state, for either of the following purposes, namely, on account of any work done, or materials or articles furnished in this state, for or towards the build
“The admiralty jurisdiction,” says Judge Story, “naturally connects itself, on the one hand, with our diplomatic relations and 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 wielded 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.” 3 Story, Comm. 533. That these cases, intended to be provided for by the act under consideration, are maritime contracts, and therefore “civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,” there can be no doubt De Lovio v. Boit [Case No. 3,776]; Dunl. Adm. Prac. 43. They are therefore within the exclusive jurisdiction of the district courts of the United States. This question, has been repeatedly decided by the supreme court of the United States.' Statutes, similar in every respect to that of New Jersey, have been enacted in most of the states; and whenever they have come under the consideration of the supreme court they have been held to be unconstitutional and void, so far at least as they authorize proceedings in rem. Thus, in the case of The Moses Taylor, 4 Wall. [71 U. S.] 411, it was held that a statute of California, which authorizes actions in rem against vessels for causes of action cognizable in admiralty, to that extent attempts to invest her courts with admiralty jurisdiction, and is therefore unconstitutional. “The action against the steamer by name,” say the court, “authorized by the statute of California, is a proceeding in the nature and with the incidents of a suit in admiralty. The distinguishing and characteristic feature of such suit is that the vessel or thing proceeded against is itself seized and impleaded as the defendant, and is judged and sentenced accordingly. It is this dominion of the suit in admiralty over the vessel or thing itself which gives to the- title made under its decrees validity against all the world.” And in the case of The Hine v. Trevor, 4 Wall. [71 U. S.] 555, where a similar statute of Iowa was under consideration, the court held that state statutes, which attempt to confer upon state courts a remedy for marine torts and marine contracts by proceedings strictly in rem, are void. In this case it was contended that the statute of Iowa might fairly be construed as coming within-the clause of the 9th section of the judiciary act, which “saves to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common-law remedy, where the-common law is competent to give it” But the court say the remedy prescribed by the statute is in no sense a common-law remedy. It is a remedy partaking of all the essential features of an admiralty proceeding in rem. The statute provides that the vessel may be sued and made defendant without any proceeding against the owners, or even mentioning their names. And while the proceeding differs thus from a common-law remedy, it is also essentially different from what are called suits by attachment. In these cases there is a suit against a personal defendant by name, but because of inability to serve process on him, on account of non-residence or some other reason, the suit is
Chief Justice Taney, in delivering the opinion of the supreme court in the case of The St. Lawrence. 1 Black [66 U. S.] 522, gave a brief but lucid history of the legislation of congress upon this subject, of the course of decisions by the supreme court, and of the reasons which led to the adoption of the 12th rule, in the first instance, and its subsequent repeal. After the passage of the judiciary act of 17S9 [1 Stat. 93], congress passed the act prescribing the process to be used in the different courts it had established; and by that act directed that, in the courts of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, the forms and modes of proceedings should be according to the course of the civil law. This act left no discretionary power in the admiralty courts, or in the supreme court, in relation to the modes and forms of proceeding. But this difficulty was soon seen and removed, and by the act of May 8th, 1792 [1 Stat. 275], these forms and modes of proceeding are to be according to the principles, rules, and usages which belong to courts of admiralty, as contradistinguished from courts of common law; and are made subject to such alterations and additions as the respective courts might deem expedient, “or to such regulations as the supreme court of the United States shall think proper from time to time by rule to prescribe to any circuit or district court concerning the same.” And the power here conferred upon the supreme court was afterwards enlarged by the act of August 23d, 1842 [5 Stat. 516]. It was under the authority of these two acts that the 12th rule, to which we have referred, was made in 1844, and afterwards altered by the rule adopted in December, 1858. In the meantime, by a series of decisions in the supreme court, it had been held, that where liens had been given by the local law, the party was entitled to proceed in rem in the admiralty court to enforce it. The General Smith, 4 Wheat. [17 U. S.] 438; Peyrouse v. Howard, 7 Pet. [32 U. S.] 324; The New Orleans v. Phoebus, 11 Pet. [36 U. S.] 175. When the rules, then, were framed in 1844, in conformity to the practice thus adopted, it was provided by the 12th rule, that: “In all suits by material-men for supplies or repairs or other necessaries for a foreign ship, or for. a ship in a foreign port, the libellant may proceed against the ship and freight in rem, or against the master, or the owner alone, in personam; and the like proceedings in rem shall apply to cases of domestic ships, where, by the local law, a lien is given to material-men for supplies, repairs, or other necessaries.” Now, there would have been no embarrassing difficulties in thus using the ordinary process, in rem, of the civil law, if the state law had given the lien in general terms, without specific conditions or limitations inconsistent with the rules and principles which governed implied maritime liens. On the contrary, such process would have promoted the convenience and facilities of trade and navigation by the promptness of its proceedings, and would have disposed at once of the whole controversy, without subjecting the party to the costs and delay of a proceeding in the chancery or common-law courts of the state to obtain the benefit of his lien. In many of the states, however, it was soon discovered that these laws, by which liens were thus created, did not harmonize with the principles and rules of the maritime code. Certain conditions and limitations were annexed to them; and these conditions and limitations differed in different states; and it became manifest
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- JACKSON v. The KINNIE
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