Mahlon Pitney

“ To the suggestion that the Queen City is the property of the state of New York, in its possession and control and employed in its public governmental service, it is objected at the outset that the record and proceedings in the suit in admiralty do not disclose the identity of the owner of the vessel or that she was employed in the governmental service of the state. ”

“ It does not now press for solution; for, aside from the obligations of international law, though upon priciples somewhat akin, it is uniformly held in this country that even in the case of municipal corporations, which are not endowed with prerogatives of sovereignty to the same extent as the states by which they are created, yet because they exercise the powers of government for local purposes, their property and revenue necessary for the exercise of those powers are to be considered as part of the machinery of government exempt from seizure and sale under process against the city. ”

“ Accepting, as we do, the facts stated in the suggestion of the Attorney General, the record-aside from whether a suit in admiralty brought by private parties through process in rem against property owned by a state is not in effect a suit against the state, barred by the general principle applied in Ex parte New York, No. ”