Admiralty Commons^™

Admiralty - Actions Against Shipowners For Loss Of Cargo - Burden Of Proof Of Seaworthiness, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A recent decision of the United States Supreme Court has laid to rest a number of complex problems involved in allocating the burden of proving seaworthiness between shipowners and injured cargo owners. While these general problems are by no means peculiar to maritime law, one plausible explanation for their unusual importance here might be found in the inherent difficulty which confronts the fact-finder when he attempts to accumulate information regarding accidents at sea. Fathoms of water may separate him from his evidence, and even where the source of injury is more accessible, the complex science of navigation and ship construction …

Labor Law - Seamen - Reinstatement Of Sit-Down Strikers, David N. Mills

Michigan Law Review

While a ship whose home port was Philadelphia was at dock in the port of Houston, unlicensed seamen commenced a strike for union recognition and boarding passes for union delegates. The strikers did not take possession of the ship but remained on the poop-deck and refused to obey all orders. They were never requested to leave. Sufficient steam was maintained for the operation of all the ship's sanitary and safety appliances, and the vessel was never in danger. When upon the ship's return to Philadelphia the steamship company discharged five of the seamen for participating in the strike, the National …

Admiralty - Uniformity Rule, William C. Whitehead

Michigan Law Review

From the words of the Federal Constitution the federal courts have spelled out the rule that maritime matters shall be governed by a uniform set of laws. These laws consist of the general maritime law at the adoption of the Constitution plus regulations subsequently promulgated by Congress. The decisions which have outlined the "uniformity rule" have concerned themselves with admiralty's interrelationship with interstate commerce. A recent application of the rule suggests another problem which uniformity is designed to circumvent--the difficulty of enforcing local rules against subjects on navigable waters. The federal courts have not always been precise in their application …

Admiralty - Workmen's Compensation - Longshoremen's Act Status Of Worker On Vessel Withdrawn From Navigation But Moving On Navigable Waters, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff and five others were hired to load a lake freighter with cargo for winter storage. They were hired by the day and none lived aboard the vessel, which had been out of commission for a year. Plaintiff assisted in towing the vessel to the elevator dock and worked on deck while the cargo was being loaded. While shifting the vessel along the dock, plaintiff's hand was crushed in a winch. Plaintiff brought an action at law under the Jones Act. Held, plaintiff is not a seaman within the terms of that act, nor "a member of a crew" …

International Law -- Anti-Smuggling Bill -- Jurisdiction On The High Seas, James H. Roberton

Michigan Law Review

The control which a littoral state may exercise over the adjacent sea has never been the subject of complete agreement among the nations of the world. Inability to agree and resulting confusion have arisen in many instances from a failure to distinguish between a claim of control over a definite strip of adjacent water, often spoken of as "territorial waters," analogous to the control exercised on land and a claim that, for the well-being of the littoral state, control for limited and specific purposes may be extended beyond these territorial waters. The most obvious example of this latter type of …

Admiralty - Right Of Seamen To Indemnity - Duty Of Shipowner To Warn And Instruct Inexperienced Seamen, James H. Roberton

Michigan Law Review

In the recent case of The State of Maryland, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals of the Fourth Circuit held that a seaman could recover indemnity against a vessel in an in rem proceeding in admiralty, for burns received when oil-burning equipment of the vessel exploded. The explosion occurred while the libellant was attempting to light the oil burner in the pit furnace beneath the boilers without having first opened the lower draft. It was a part of the libellant's duties to light the oil burner. He was inexperienced, and no one had instructed him as to the …

Admiralty-Jurisdiction Over Torts-Personal Injuries Caused By A Fall From Vessel To Dock

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a longshoreman, was employed by the defendant terminal company in unloading a vessel in a Great Lakes port. While working on the deck of the vessel he was struck by a swinging hoist, precipitated upon the wharf and injured. He sought compensation under the state workmen's compensation act, but the state supreme court vacated the commission's award on the ground that the federal law controlled. Held, by the United States Supreme Court, that the cause of action arose on the vessel where the blow was struck and was governed by the maritime law. Minnie v. Port Huron Terminal …

Admiralty-Power Of Congress To Extend Jurisdiction Constitutional Limitations

Michigan Law Review

"The judicial Power shall extend . . . to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction."

"The Congress shall have Power . . . To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution . . . Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States."

These clauses of the Constitution of the United States provide the foundation for the exercise of jurisdiction in admiralty causes by the federal courts. The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of The Thomas Barlum, upholding the constitutionality of the Ship …

Admiralty- Loss Of Goods - Statutory Exemption Of Owner Of Vessel From Liability

Michigan Law Review

Through the negligence of the chief engineer in putting new coal on top of old coal in a temporary bunker the steamship Galileo was rendered unseaworthy at the time the voyage commenced, catching fire and sinking. The cargo was lost. The plaintiff, cargo owner, sued the owner-operator or the ship in the federal District Court for southern New York for breach of contract to deliver at destination. On certiorari to the Circuit Court of Appeals the Supreme Court held, in affirming the decree dismissing the libel, that the defendant was relieved from liability under the federal fire statute which …

Carriers -Terminal And Carfloat Bridge - Whether "Terminal" Facilities Or "Interchange" Facilities

Michigan Law Review

The New York Central R. R. brought a suit in admiralty to recover damages to its carfloat No. 37 resulting from a collision occasioned solely by the negligence of the Long Island R. R.'s tug Talisman and those in charge of her. At the time of the collision the carfloat No. 37 was moored in a carfloat bridge of the Long Island's terminal at Long Island City where it had been received in connection with the transportation in interstate commerce of freight cars and freight. The New York Central had received a notice that the Long Island would not be …

Admiralty-Venue Of Action Brought In State Court Under Jones Act

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff brought suit in a county court of Pennsylvania to to recover damages for injuries sustained by her while a member of the steamship crew of the defendant. The action was based on the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 which provided: "Jurisdiction in such actions shall be under the court of the district in which the defendant employer resides or in which his principal office is located." Defendant corporation moved to dismiss the action on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction since defendant's principal office was in Baltimore. The motion was granted and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court …

Admiralty- Collision- Damages Resulting From Disability Of Injured Vessels

Michigan Law Review

The dredge Raritan collided with the petitioner's steam tug Integrity. It was found that both vessels were at fault, and it was ordered that the damages to each vessel should be equally apportioned between the owners. The trial court allowed petitioner the market hire of its tug for the time it was disabled while being repaired. The Circuit Court of Appeals excluded this item. The petitioner did not use its vessels for hire generally. Nor was it shown that the vessel would have been let if it could have been chartered. Three tugs were used in the business of towing …

Torts-Duty To Seamen-Jones Act-Personal Injury And Negligence

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, personal representative of a seaman who was said to have died as a result of his employer's failure to provide proper medical attention at sea, sued the defendant-employer for the seaman's death. Judgment for the plaintiff having been reversed in the Circuit Court of Appeals on the ground that any cause of action abated with the death of the sailor, the case was brought before the Supreme Court of the United States on a writ of certiorari. Held that, under the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act), the cause of action survived to the personal representative. Cortes v. Baltimore Insular …

Conflict Of Laws-Admiralty -Torts In Territorial Waters

Michigan Law Review

A civil wrong having been committed on board a vessel in foreign territorial waters, the tort by hypothesis being maritime and the court having jurisdiction, the problem then arises as to what law governs the disposition of the case. Stated more specifically, does the nature of admiralty jurisdiction demand that a court, in determining liability for civil wrongs committed in foreign territorial waters, should ignore or modify well-settled principles of the conflict of laws as applied to delictual obligations? This is the point of departure for the discussion to follow.

Admirality-Jurisdiction-Suit Between Foreigners

Michigan Law Review

Claimant sought to have the libel by the Ford Motor Company of Australia dismissed on the grounds, among others, that the suit was between foreigners and that the assumption of jurisdiction by this court would cause the Canadian ship owner great expense and inconvenience. The court, in denying the motion, held that the expense and inconvenience of trial in this forum would be no greater than in Canada, and that the retention of jurisdiction of admiralty suits between foreigners is within the discretion of the court. The Canadian Commander, 43 F.(2d) 857.

Admiralty-Jurisdiction-Workmen's Compensation

Michigan Law Review

The question of what remedies should be available to maritime workers for injuries in the course of their employment has received much attention from the courts during the last fifteen years. This has resulted in some conflicts of the federal maritime jurisdiction with the jurisdiction of the states, and particularly' with the workmen's compensation acts enacted by them. The history of this situation was reviewed in 27 MICH. L. Rev. 191, December, 1928, in a note by G [errit] D [emmink]. In view of three decisions rendered last spring by the United States Supreme Court, it has seemed well to …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

The Case Of The S. S. "Lotus", George Wendell Berge

Michigan Law Review

A momentous judgment was rendered by the Permanent Court of International Justice, sitting at the Hague, on September 7, 1927, in the Case of the S.S. Lotus. Interest in the case is especially manifest among students of international and maritime law, as well as others, because it is perhaps the first case to come before the Permanent Court in which the question for decision was a point of general international law. Thorough analysis and comment on the questions involved would fill a good-sized volume. Only a few observations can be made in this article on the merits of the …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

The Uniformity Of The Maritime Law, George L. Canfield

Michigan Law Review

In 1871, Richard Henry Dana commenced a masterly article on the "History of Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Supreme Court of the United States,'' by writing, "After seventy yea.rs of baffling winds and cross currents in the region of admiralty jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of the United States has sailed out into deep water." In 1924, Charles Merrill Hough concludes his delightful "Admiralty Jurisdiction-of Late Years," with the statement, "The years since 1906 have not increased the certainty of maritime law, and they have impaired the tradition of enforceable customs of the sea." And others writing in current legal periodicals have …

International Law--Treaties--Are The Rum Tretaties Self-Executing?

Michigan Law Review

On May 22, 1924, the United States concluded a treaty with Great Britain by which the latter power agreed that it would raise no objection to the search and seizure of its ships by American authorities on the high seas, provided there was reason to suspect that such ships were committing or attempting to commit an offense against United States laws, and provided the search and seizure were made within an hour's run of the American coast. In return the United States conceded to British ships the privilege of bringing into its ports liquor in bond in their ship stores. …

Admiralty-The Effect Of Ths Supreme Court's Interpretation Of The Lien Act Of 1910

Michigan Law Review

Prior to the Lien Act of June 23, 1910, there was great confusion among the district courts over the question of the presumption of credit. The General Smith, 4 Wheaton 438, had held that though a lien was given to the furnisher of a foreign ship, the furnisher of a domestic ship got no lien unless the municipal law of the place gave him one. The states all passed various kinds of statutes giving material-men liens and these liens were enforced in admiralty. When the situation became unbearable Congress passed the Lien Act of 1910 to clarify the law. …

Is The Crime Of Piracy Obsolete?, Edwin D. Dickinson

Articles

"A few years ago it might have been surmised that in America at least a good deal of the old code in respect to piracy had passed from the law in reserve into the law in history. The important cases were nearly all one hundred years old or more....

There have been recent events, however, which challenge the assumption that the law of piracy is chiefly of historical significance. The country had hardly entered upon the new period of national prohibition when the rum ships descended upon its coasts... There sprang up, in consequence, to prey upon the rum ships, …

Admiralty-Seaworthiness-The Harter Act

Michigan Law Review

A vessel strands through negligent navigation and cargo in the forward hold is damaged as a result of a leak due to the tearing on a rock of plates at the forward end of the vessel. This is the typical case of a fault and error in navigation under section 3 of the Harter Act, as to which the vessel owner is exempted from liability. "That if the owner of any vessel transporting merchandise or property to or from any port in the United States of America shall exercise due diligence to make the said vessel in all respects seaworthy …

To Contribute Or Not To Contribute?--A Basic Inconsistency In The Law Of Negligence

Michigan Law Review

X accepts an invitation to ride with his friend A, in the latter's coupe. B has a party of friends in his new limousine. Both drivers are careless; the cars collide; and X is injured. X brings suit against B, and the latter has A brought into court as a defendant, a proceeding permitted under the provisions of the Wisconsin code of civil procedure. B claims the right of contribution against A, in the event that X is successful in his suit, and also asks affirmative relief against A for the damage done to his limousine. A counters with a …

International Law-Counterclaimes In Suits By Foreign Govenments

Michigan Law Review

The confusion to which the courts are reduced by counterclaims in suits by foreign governments is illustrated by the recent cases on the point in the lower federal courts. Unassisted by an authoritative decision from the United States Supreme Court, they reflect the doubts appearing in most of the American cases, doubts that are founded on both the theoretical and practical difficulty of the questions involved.

A Selection Of Cases And Other Authorities On The Law Of Admiralty, Pt.1: The Jurisdiction Of Admiralty Courts, Edwin D. Dickinson

Books

“The following collection of cases and other authorities on the Law of Admiralty requires prefatory comment in at least two particulars.

In the first place, the collection is incomplete. It has been necessary to keep within rather definite limits of space. Within those limits it has seemed better to develop selected topics somewhat fully, leaving out others altogether, rather than to spread the collection out over as much of the field as one would like to include….

In the second place, the collection is tentative. There are no footnotes and such materials as are usually thus included must be supplied …

Prize Cases Decided In The United States Supreme Court, 1789-1918, Edwin D. Dickinson

Reviews

"It seems something of a paradox that our first and only complete collection of Supreme Court prize decisions should be published at last under the auspices of an endowment for international peace... And it has been the admirable purpose of the Carnegie Endowment to promote peace by rendering more available all authoritative sources of information about international affairs.

"There is more in common, indeed, between peace and prize cases than a mere matter of contact with international affairs. The development of international law, both as a general system and as a part of municipal law, has been developed by prize …

A Selection Of Cases And Other Authorities On The Law Of Admiralty, Pt.2: The Maritime Law, Edwin D. Dickinson

Books

“The following collection of cases and other authorities on the Law of Admiralty requires prefatory comment in at least two particulars.

In the first place, the collection is incomplete. It has been necessary to keep within rather definite limits of space. Within those limits it has seemed better to develop selected topics somewhat fully, leaving out others altogether, rather than to spread the collection out over as much of the field as one would like to include….

In the second place, the collection is tentative. There are no footnotes and such materials as are usually thus included must be supplied …

A Selection Of Cases And Other Authorities On The Law Of Admiralty, Pt.3: The Reception And Modification Of Maritime Law, Edwin D. Dickinson

Books

“The following collection of cases and other authorities on the Law of Admiralty requires prefatory comment in at least two particulars.

In the first place, the collection is incomplete. It has been necessary to keep within rather definite limits of space. Within those limits it has seemed better to develop selected topics somewhat fully, leaving out others altogether, rather than to spread the collection out over as much of the field as one would like to include….

In the second place, the collection is tentative. There are no footnotes and such materials as are usually thus included must be supplied …