Edward Douglass White

“ While the circuit court of appeals differed with the trial court as to one item,-the freight from New York to Havre,-we do not think that court was required, as a condition for affirming the grant of limitation of liability, to exact the payment of the disputed money into court, or the giving of bond therefor, until the possibility of the review of its action was at an end. ”

“ The vessels of petitioner made trips from Havre to New York and from New York to Havre without any intermediate stops. It is clear that, in common parlance, each of these trips was a separate voyage. Undoubtedly the word 'voyage' may have different meanings under different circumstances, depending on the subject to which it relates or the context of the particular contract in which the word is employed. This is illustrated by the use of that word in the subsidy contract, where the word is used as signifying a sailing from Havre to New York and the return trip to Havre. ”

“ A monition warning all persons having claims by reason of the collision to prove the same, within a time to be fixed, was asked, as also that a commissioner be appointed to take such proof, and that the prosecution of all other actions because of the collision be restrained. Finally, it was prayed that the company be decreed not to be liable for the loss of La Bourgogne, or, if responsible, its liability, in conformity to the statute, be limited to the property surrendered. ”

“ That however full may have been the compliance by the petitioner with the duty to make regulations, it was necessarily in privity and knowledge with the immoderate speed which caused the collision, as it knowingly encouraged or tolerated the violation of its regulations, because it knew of the constant habit on the part of its captains to navigate at an immoderate rate of speed in a fog, and did not prevent the illegal practice. ”

“ If the courts having the execution of it administer it in a spirit of fairness, with the view of giving to shipowners the full benefit of the immunities intended to be secured by it, the encouragement it will afford to commercial operations (as before stated) will be of the last importance; but, if it is administered with a tight and grudging hand, construing every clause most unfavorably against the shipowner, and allowing as little as possible to operate in his favor, the law will hardly be worth the trouble of its enactment. ”

“ The contention is that, as the steamships were only required to develop under forced draught a maximum speed of 17 1/2 knots, and yet, in operation, were obliged to maintain a mean average annual speed of 15 knots, it must have been known that the contract could not be performed unless the steamers were run at an immoderate speed in a fog; and hence plainly shows that the petitioner must have had privity or knowledge of the habit of running at an immoderate speed. ”

“ This was aptly pointed out by Townsend, District Judge. He said:
'It is not clear that any further precautions than those established by the orders and requlations, quoted above, would have been practicable.
'The question of rate of speed in a fog is one which cannot be determined by set rules, but must be left largely to the discretion of the officers of the ship. They are intrusted with the responsibility of the carriage of mails, freight, and passengers, at the greatest speed which is consistent with safety. Their own lives, as well as those of the passengers and crew, are at stake. ”

“ In conformity with the rules of international regulations, having for object the prevention of collisions, all vessels under steam which approach each other so that there may be risk of collision, must diminish their speed, or stop or go backwards, if necessary. All vessels under steam must, during foggy weather, preserve a moderate speed. ”

“ Indeed, under the settled interpretation of the article of the Code Napoleon, the right to recovery for wrongful death is not dependent upon heirship or other relationship by consanguinity or affinity, but upon the ability to prove the existence of damage to the claimant, arising from wrongful death. ”

“ If they belonged to different nations, having different laws, since it would be unjust to apply the laws of either to the exclusion of the other, the law of the forum-that is, the maritime law, as received and practised therein-would properly furnish the rule of decision. In all other cases each nation will also administer justice according to its own laws. ”

“ In these respects, therefore, the decree below was affirmed. As the Cromartyshire was not present, the court expressly refrained from stating any opinion as to any concurring fault on her part, remarking that her presence was not necessary, as, with the allowance of death claims, even one half of the damage found in this proceeding would greatly exceed the sum transferred to the trustee in limitation of liability. It was further decided that the court below was right in rejecting the claim of the S. S. White Dental Company. ”

“ We may not disturb the concurrent findings of both the courts below as to the density of the fog and the rate of speed of the steamship at the time of the collision, unless we are of opinion that those findings were so unwarranted by the evidence as clearly to be erroneous. ”

“ There is a direction for the production of books, and, in one way or another, the thing is postponed and postponed, and defeated and defeated, under one argument and another argument, so that no progress is made. ”