Louis Brandeis

“ The District Court embodied in the decrees an order that the respondent should appear and file security in any action which might be instituted by the petitioners in the admiralty courts of Canada, so that petitioners would not by dismissal of the libels lose the security gained by the foreign attachment. It is difficult to conceive of a state of facts more clearly justifying the refusal of a District Court to retain jurisdiction in a cause between foreigners. ”

“ The rule recognizing an unqualified discretion to decline jurisdiction in suits in admiralty between foreigners appears to be supported by an unbroken line of decisions in the lower federal courts. [2] The question has most frequently been presented in suits by foreign seamen against masters or owners of foreign vessels, relating to claims for wages and like differences, [3] or to claims of personal injury. [4] Although such cases are ordinarily decided according to the foreign law, they often concern causes of action arising within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. ”

“ The cargo, in each case, was shipped under a Canadian bill of lading from one Canadian port to another. The collision occurred at a point where the inland waters narrowed to a neck, and the District Court concluded that the colliding vessels proceeded in United States waters unintentionally. If the libelants are entitled to have applied the law of the United States in respect to the liability, the Canadian courts will, it must be assumed, give effect to it. ”