Hugo Black

Name: Continental Grain Company v. Barge — Opinion of the Court
Author: Hugo Black

Summary

“Continental Grain Company v. Barge — Opinion of the Court”, is a work by Hugo Black. It explores elements such as New Orleans, barge and fiction.

Quotes from Continental Grain Company v. Barge… (Hugo Black)

Hugo Black, Continental Grain Company v. Barge…

“ We are asked here, however, to transplant this ancient salt-water admiralty fiction into the dry-land context of forum non conveniens, where its usefulness and possibilities for good are questionable at best. In fact, the fiction appears to have no relevance whatever in a District Court's determination of where a case can most conveniently be tried. A fiction born to provide convenient forums should not be transferred into a weapon to defeat that very purpose. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Hugo Black, Continental Grain Company v. Barge…

“ The fiction relied upon has not been without its critics even in the field it was designed to serve. It has been referred to as 'archaic,' 'an animistic survival from remote times,' 'irrational' and 'atavistic.' [2] Perhaps this is going too far since the fiction is one that certainly had real cause for its existence in its context and in the day and generation in which it was created. A purpose of the fiction, among others, has been to allow actions against ships where a person owning the ship could not be reached, and it can be very useful for this purpose still. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Hugo Black, Continental Grain Company v. Barge…

“ The idea behind § 1404 (a) is that where a 'civil action' to vindicate a wrong-however brought in a court-presents issues and requires witnesses that make one District Court more convenient than another, the trial judge can, after findings, transfer the whole action to the more convenient court. That situation exists here. Although the action in New Orleans was technically brought against the barge itself as well as its owner, the obvious fact is that, whatever other advantages may result, this is an alternative way of bringing the owner into court. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Hugo Black, Continental Grain Company v. Barge…

“ This view is reached by labeling this single civil action as two, one against the barge and one against the owner. It asserts this view despite the fact that the grain company's suit against the barge and its suit against the owner are in the same complaint for the loss of the same cargo in the same sinking of the same barge producing the same damages. The basis of this view that there are two distinct civil actions for § 1404 (a) purposes is a long-standing admiralty fiction that a vessel may be assumed to be a person for the purpose of filing a lawsuit and enforcing a judgment. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Hugo Black, Continental Grain Company v. Barge…

“ A man's liability for a demand against him is measured by the amount of the property that may be taken from him to satisfy that demand. In the matter of liability, a man and his property cannot be separated * * *.' The City of Norwich, 118 U.S. 468, 503, 6 S.Ct. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Hugo Black, Continental Grain Company v. Barge…

“ The grain company takes this view of the effect of joinder, arguing that since the barge was in New Orleans when this 'civil action' was brought and the admiralty in rem claim therefore could not have been brought in Memphis at that time, the entire civil action must remain in the inconvenient New Orleans forum. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Hugo Black, Continental Grain Company v. Barge…

“ Although this case also involves some nice questions of admiralty procedure, since the claimant barge owner has moved for transfer and has agreed to 'pay any final decree which may be rendered against', the barge, the controlling considerations for me are those set forth in my opinion in Sullivan v. Behimer, 1960, 363 U.S. 351, 80 S.Ct. 1084. Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment.
Mr. Justice WHITTAKER, with whom Mr. Justice DOUGLAS joins, dissenting.
Notes
↑ 'A ship is the most living of inanimate things. Servants sometimes say 'she' of a clock, but every one gives a gender to vessels. ”

Hugo Black

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Quotes from Continental Grain Company v. Barge… (Hugo Black)

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