Admiralty Commons^™

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. …

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.

Shipping Act Of 1916: The Effect Of Section 15 On The Sherman Anti-Trust Law, Claude A. Thompson

Michigan Law Review

Does the approval of a conference agreement by the Shipping Board under section 15 of the Shipping Act of 1916 legalize an agreement, which, but for such approval, would be in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law?

The Ship Mortgage Act Of 1920, George L. Canfield

Michigan Law Review

Maritime loans have been usually secured by either bottomry bonds or ship mortgages. The former constituted maritime liens of high and privileged character, while the latter had no standing in admiralty at all except as to remnants after all other claims against the ship had been satisfied. The statute now under discussion, being part of general legislation for the revival of the American merchant marine, makes "preferred mortgages" thereunder maritime liens, enforceable by admiralty process in rem. The changes made by the statute in existing law are radical and its construction by the Supreme Court will be of great …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, George Seletto, Edson R. Sunderland, Victor H. Lane, Burke Shartel, George E. Longstaff

Michigan Law Review

Carriers - Second Cummins Amendment - It was seven years after the Carmack Amendment of the Hepburn Act of i9o6 before the Supreme Court began that series of decisions, extending from Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U. S. 491 (1913), to George N. Pierce Co. v. Wells, Fargo & Co., 236 U. S. 278 (1915), which directly resulted in the First Cummins Amendment of March, 1915. One has only to read those cases, reviewed in 13 Micn. L. REv. 59o, and other notes referred to in 17 MICH. L. Rzv. 183, to see that the language of the Cummins …

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Admiralty - Workmen's Compensation - Is a Hydroplane a Vessel? - Claimant was employed in the care and management of a hydroplane which was moored in navigable waters. The hydroplane began to drag anchor and drift toward the beach, where it was in danger of being wrecked. Claimant waded into the water and was struck by the propeller. Held, claimant is not entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Law, since a hydroplane while on navigable waters is a vessel, and therefore the jurisdiction of the admiralty excludes that of the State Industrial Commission. Reinhardt v. Newport Flying Service Corp. …

Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell

Michigan Law Review

Cases Arising under the Constitution or Laws of the United States. The question whether a case presents a "federal question," so called, is raised in a number of the controversies in which the asserted federal question was considered and answered. Only a few of these instances need special mention. In Hartford Life Ins. Co. v. Blincoe,3 after reversal by the Supreme Court of a state judgment against a defendant, a second judgment was rendered by the state court on different grounds. These included holding an assessment on an insurance policy to be void for the inclusion of a state tax …

Note And Comment, George E. Longstaff, George L. Clark, Edwin D. Dickinson

Michigan Law Review

Constitutionality of the LA Follette Amendment to the Internal Revenue Law of 1921 - The United States Senate on November 5, 1921, inserted in the Revenue Act, then before the Senate, a provision that taxpayers in their income tax returns must specify what state and municipal bonds they hold, or else be subject to a penalty of five per cent. That provision was dropped out in conference, but it will come up again, and it is well to look at its constitutionality under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting unreasonable searches.

Requisitioned And The Government-Owned Ship, J. Whitla Stinson

Michigan Law Review

Jurisdiction over requisitioned and government-owned merchantmen and their liabilities under maritime laws are questions which present no real novelty. They were regarded by the ancient sea-law and were as familiar to it as they have recently become,-on account of the exigencies of the late war, to the admiralty systems of to-day. The maritime law of Rome supplies modem cases with the most cogent parallels and is reflected today in the jurisprudence of France and other continental and Latin countries. The jurisdictional question which figures most prominently in these cases relates to the authority to arrest or libel the property of …

Book Reviews, G L. Canfield

Michigan Law Review

Handbook of Admiralty Law. By Robert It. Hughes, M.A., LL.D., of the Norfolk (Va.) Bar. Second Edition. St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1920. Pp. xviii, 572.