U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1816

United States v. Hamilton

United States v. Hamilton
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts · Decided October 15, 1816 · Story
26 F. Cas. 93; 1 Mason C.C. 152
United States v. Hamilton

Opinion of the Court

STORY. Circuit Justice.

Upon this evidence the indictment is not maintained. The place, where the ship lay, was in no sense “the high seas." The admiralty has never held, that the ■ waters of havens, where the tide ebbs and flows, are properly the high seas, unless those waters are without low-water mark. The common law has attempted a still more narrow construction of the terms.

Verdict for the defendant.

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